i^: 


ST' 


■^ILj^ZsTQ 


THE    WHIG     PARTY     IN 
PENNSYLVANIA 


BY 

HENRY  R.  MUELLER,  A.  M. 

Professor  of  History,  Muhlenberg  College 
Sometime  University  Fellow  in  History,  Columbia  University 


SUBMITTED   IN   PARTIAL    FULFILMENT   OF   THE   REQUIREMENTS 

FOR    THE    DEGREE   OF    DOCTOR    OF   PHILOSOPHY 

IN  THE 

Faculty  of  Political  Science 
Columbia  University 


NEW  YORK 
1922 


• . .  •    •  • . . 


^4  A\  & 


MY  MOTHER 


PREFACE 

The  study  was  undertaken  as  the  result  of  a  suggestion 
from  Professor  William  A.  Dunning  of  Columbia  Univer- 
sity. The  original  intention  of  the  author  was  to  confine 
the  investigation  to  the  last  decade  of  the  existence  of 
the  Whig  party  in  Pennsylvania.  As  the  work  proceeded, 
it  became  necessary  to  examine  portions  of  the  early  period 
of  the  party.  It  was  soon  evident  that  for  the  sake  of 
unity  and  continuity  the  history  of  the  Whig  party  in 
Pennsylvania  should  be  presented  from  the  time  of  its  for- 
mation until  its  disappearance.  The  late  Charles  McCarthy 
in  his  excellent  The  Anti-Masonic  Party  and  Miss  Margue- 
rite G.  Bartlett  in  The  Chief  Phases  of  Pennsylvania  Politics 
in  the  Jacksonian  Period  have  covered  the  period  in  which 
the  Whig  party  was  formed  but  not  with  the  Whig  party  as 
the  main  interest.  Consequently,  despite  the  previous  work 
in  the  field,  the  authi-r  felt  justified  in  including  this  mater- 
ial. 

Pennsylvania  during  the  period  of  the  Whig  party  was 
undergoing  an  extensive  expansion  in  manufacturing  and 
mining,  which  tended  to  draw  her  to  the  policy  desired  by 
the  New  England  states.  On  the  other  hand,  conditions 
similar  to  those  existing  on  the  frontier  persisted  in  the 
mountain  districts  of  the  state  until  the  close  of  the  period. 
The  relatir.n  of  certain  sections  of  the  state  to  the  South 
through  the  mercantile  interest  was  close,  causing  the  adoj>- 
tion  of  a  kindly  attitude  toward  the  slave  holder.  As  a 
result  of  these  conditions,  the  state,  in  a  measure  at  least, 
reflected  the  sentiments  of  the  different  sections  of  the 
253]  7 


8  PREFACE  [254 

couiitty.  Consequently,  the  varied  and  varying  political 
arg-uments  all  tind  expression  in  one  or  the  other  of  the 
political  groups  within  the  state.  During  the  peri<xl  under 
study,  as  went  Pennsylvania,  so  went  the  Union.  In  the 
niajc  rity  of  the  elections.  Pennsylvania  was  the  detemiining 
fact(ir. 

Many  kindnesses  were  shown  the  author  in  the  prosecu- 
tion of  his  work.  A  debt  of  especial  gratitude  is  due  V> 
Professors  William  A.  Dunning  and  D.  R.  Fox  for  numer- 
ous suggesticms.  which  saved  the  author  frc  m  many  a  pit- 
fall. The  author  wishes  gratefully  to  acknowledge  the 
readiness  with  which  the  Historical  Society  of  Pennsylvania 
and  the  Library  of  Congress  placed  the  resources  of  their 
manuscript  department  at  his  disposal.  Chief  reliance  for 
newspaper  material  was  placed  upon  the  excellent  collection 
of  the  Pennsylvania  State  Library,  where  innumerable 
favors  were  extended  by  the  librarians.  The  maps  were 
prq)are<l  under  the  author's  direction  by  Mr.  Honvard  L. 
Weiss,  one  of  his  students. 


CONTENTS 

PAGE 

CHAPTER  I. 
The  Period  of  Subordination,  1834-1838 11 

CHAPTER  II. 
Years  of  Triumph  and  Tribulation,  1S39-1843 56 

CHAPTER  III. 
Texas  and  the  Tariff,  1844 -1846 92 

CHAPTER  IV. 
A  Political  Interlude,  1847-1848 136 

CHAPTER  V. 
The  Slavery  Queslion  in  Stace  Politics,  1849-1851 160 

CHAPTER  VI. 
The  Whig  Party  Marks  Time,  1852-1853 iq3 

CHAPTER  VII. 
The  Disappearance  of  the  Whig  Party,  1854-1856 208 

CHAPTER  VIII. 
Characteristics  of  the  Whig  Party 236 

Bibliography 247 

Index 265 

255]  9 


MAPS 


FACING  PAGE 

Congressional  Election,  1834 18 

Presidential  Election,  1836 34 

Presidential  Election,  1844    ...           112 

Election  for  Canal  Commissioner,  1846 133 

Presidential  Election,  1848 158 

Election  for  Governor,  1851 190 

Presidential  Election,  1852.      202 

Election  for  State  Officers,  1854 215 

Presidential  Election,  1856        235 

JO  [256 


CHAPTER  I 

The  Period  of  Subordination 

1834-1838. 

A  marked  characteristic  of  the  American  people  has  been 
their  tendency  to  fo-rm  combinations  for  the  purpose  of  at- 
taining a  particular  end.  In  no  phase  of  their  social  activi- 
ties has  this  tendency  been  more  noticeable  than  in  the  con- 
duct of  political  affairs.  Political  agitation  never  has  failed 
to  attract  attention,  but  after  the  disappearance  of  the 
Federalist  party  interest  in  the  maintenance  of  party  organ- 
ization waned.  For  a  short  period  of  time  organized 
national  political  parties  ceased  to  exist.  Gradually  in 
national  politics  new  leaders  with  large  personal  following^ 
appeared ;  from  these  groups  new  political  parties  were  to 
come.  Of  these  leaders  Andrew  Jackson  ai)pealed  parti- 
cularly to  the  untutored  laboring  man.  mechanic  and  fanner. 
In  the  presidential  election  of  1824  opposition  to  him  in 
Pennsylvania  was  hardly  worth  the  name.^  In  the  election 
of  1828  he  carried  the  state  by  an  overwhelming  majority. 
Prior  to  the  election  of  1832  two  political  organizations 
opposed  to  Andrew  Jackson  had  l)cen  formed  with  l)ranches 
ii:  the  state.  In  1829  the  Anti-Masonic  party  developed 
strength  in  the  counties  of  the  interior.     In   Philadcli)hia 

'  In  1824  Jackson  had  l)cen  rioniinatcd  by  two  conventions  in  Penn- 
sylvania, the  one  said  to  be  Federalist  and  Uie  other  Democratic; 
Sargent.  Public  Men  and  llvents,  sol.  i,  p.  41. 

257]  " 


12 


THE  WHIG  PARTY  IN  PENNSYLVANIA  [258 


the  commercial  element,  refusing  to  respond  to  the  move- 
ment, supported  Henry  Clay  for  the  next  presidential  elec- 
tion. In  the  rest  of  the  state  this  movement  for  Clay,  soon 
assuming  the  name  of  National  Republican,  made  little 
headway.  Unlike  the  situation  elsewhere,  no  cooperation 
between  these  two  parties  existed,  for  the  Anti-Masons  were 
just  as  prescriptive  of  the  National  Republicans  as  they 
were  of  the  Jackson  party. 

In  preparation  for  the  election  of  1832  Clay  urged  hisi 
followers  to  assume  an  independent  but  conciliatory  attitude 
towards  the  other  elements  of  Jacksonian  opposition.^  So 
far  as  the  state  elections  were  concerned,  they  acquiesced, 
making  no  nominations  of  their  own.  The  Anti-Masons, 
not  being  eager  for  this  cooperati(jn,  viewed  it  with  distrust. 
Amos  EUmakcr,  Anti-Masonic  candidate  for  the  vice-presi- 
dency, voiced  it  in  a  letter  to  Thaddeus  Stevens,  saying  that 
"  the  remotest  suspicion  of  Anti-Masons  combining  with 
any  other  party,  or  fragment  of  party,  would  be  and  ought 
tu  l>e  injurious,  if  net  fatal  to  the  election  of  Ritner."  * 
After  the  gubernatorial  election,  the  electoral  ticket  for 
Clay  and  Sergeant  was  withdrawn;  the  National  Republi- 
cans, in  the  main,  vcted  for  Wirt  and  Ellmaker,  the  Anti- 
Mas<'>nic   nominees,    who   nevertheless,   did   not   carry   the 

'Henry  Clay  to  Thomas  I.  Wharton,  July  25,  1831 ;  Miscellaneous 
Mss.  Collection  of  the  New  York  Historical  Society. 

*  Letter  of  .Xugust  16.  1832;  Publications  of  the  Lancaster  County 
Historical  Society,  vol.  viii,  pp.  38-44.  Ritner  was  the  Anti-Masonic 
candidate  for  governor.  For  the  presidential  election  the  Clay  sup- 
porters proposed  a  joint  electoral  ticket,  allowing  the  voters  to  cast 
their  ballot  for  cither  Clay  or  Wirt.  General  R.  Rosebury,  member  of 
the  Anti- Masonic  state  committee,  on  July  24,  1832,  wrote  the  chair- 
man, Joseph  Wallace,  "  I  should  view  defeat  under  present  circum- 
stances as  less  likely  to  prove  prejudicial  to  the  cause  we  are  engaged 
in  advocating  than  success  that  arises  from  a  union  with  a  party  that 
has  nothing  in  common  with  us."     Wm.  McPherson  Mss. 


259]  -^^^^  PERIOD  OF  SUBORDINATION  13 

State/  Although  the  Anti-Masons  did  not  desire  this  sup- 
port, yet  they  could  not  deny  its  existence ;  the  way  was  thus 
open  for  future  joint  action,  based  on  their  consent. 

Jackson's  determination  to  ruin  the  Bank  of  the  United 
States  furnished  the  two  opposition  parties  within  the  state 
the  incentive  and  the  opportunity  for  combining.  The  with- 
drawal of  funds  from  the  bank  by  the  government  caused 
the  officers  of  the  bank  to  curtail  their  loans  and  to  draw 
bills  of  exchange  for  short  periods  only.*  The  financial 
flurry  and  business  depression  which  followed  were  attri- 
buted by  the  bank  to  the  policy  of  the  govemment.  Instruc- 
tions came  from  Clay,  showing  how  the  indignation  of  the 
state,  in  which  the  bank  liad  a  fair  degree  of  popularity, 
might  be  used  to  political  advantage."^  Following  his  in- 
structions mass  meetings  at  Philadelphia,  Chambersburg, 
Pittsburgh,  York,  Easton,  Huntingdon,  Beaver,  Williams- 
port,  Gettysburg,  and  Chester  adopted  resolutions,  sent 
committees  to  Washington  to  present  them  to  Congress, 
and,  much  to  his  disgust  and  annoyance,  to  interview  the 
President  on  the  restoration  of  the  deposits.* 

The  merchants  of  Philadelphia  in  openly  directing  the 
agitation  acted  in  unison  so  that  on  the  day  of  one  of  the 
mass  meetings  "  nine-tenths  of  the  mercantile  houses  were 
closed."  °     Pressure  was  brought  to  bear  on  the  directors 

^  Nites'  Register,  vol.  xlii,  p.  273;  vol.  xliii,  pp.  134,  136.  Wirt  had 
beet!  unsuccessful  in  an  endeavor  to  have  the  Anti-Masons  endorse 
Clay;  Kennedy,  Memoirs  of  the  Life  of  lyilliam  IVirt,  vol.  ii,  pp.  356. 
359.  366,  380,  381. 

'  Catterall,  Second  Bank  of  the  United  States,  pp.  314,  et  seq. 

*  Clay  to  Nicholas  Riddle,  Deccml>€r  21,  1833;  McGrane,  Correspond- 
ence of  Nicholas  Biddle,  p.  218. 

*  National  Gazette,  January  3,  February  4,  5,  6.  8.  10,  13.  24,  March 
10,  11;  United  States  Gazette,  January  4,  28,  29,  February  4.  5.  26, 
March  5,  12,  1834.  Some  of  the  memorials  and  reports  can  be  found 
in  Hazard,  Register  of  Pennsylvania,  vol.  xiii. 

*  National  Gazette.  March  21.  1834;  ef.  also  Sargent.  (»/>.  eit.,  vol.  i, 
p.  262. 


14  THE  WHIG  PARTY  IN  PENNSYLVANIA  [260 

of  the  Girard  Bank  of  Philadelphia,  one  of  the  government 
depositories,  because  of  their  contract.  A  referendum  to 
the  stockholders  voided  the  contract,  which  the  directors  had 
made  with  the  government.^  The  agitation  against  the 
course  pursued  by  Jackson  was  apparently  so  effective  that 
the  National  Gazette,  a  bank  organ,  was  led  to  exclaim,  "  The 
anti-Jackson  sensation  extends  rapidly.  The  Stamp  Act 
did  not  produce  more  excitement  than  the  Dictatorship  does 
now.  President  Jackson  took  a  '  responsibility  '  much  more 
weighty  than  he  supposed."  ^ 

Within  the  state  the  bank  supporters  looked  longingly  on 
the  strength  of  the  Anti-Masons.  A  small  anti-bank  sec- 
tion of  this  party  endeavored  to  throw  its  support  to 
Jackson  in  his  fight  against  the  bank.  Richard  Rush,  leader 
of  this  group,  in  an  open  let^ter  claimed  that 

if  antimasons  object  to  the  Lodge  that  it  makes  the  press  dumb, 
if  this  be  the  cornerstone  of  their  cause,  can  they  look  with 
other  feelings  than  those  of  reprobation  on  the  unwarrantable 
acts  of  another  powerful  institution  for  stimulating  it  to 
NOISE?     I  would  fain  persuade  myself  not.^ 

When  his  effort  to  have  the  Anti-Masonic  party  oppose  the 
bank  failed.  Rush  led  his  wing  into  the  ranks  of  the  Jackson 
.supporters.  From  this  failure  it  was  evident  that  the  bank 
partisans  might,  if  they  handled  the  situation  astutely,  win 
the  support  of  the  rest  of  the  Anti-Masonic  party.  It  was 
also  evident  that  the  bank  question  was  too  limited  for  any 
determined  and  continued  agitation.     Therefore  opposition 

■  Hazard,  Register  of  Pennsylvania,  vol.  xiii,  pp.  108,  igi,  304.  The 
cancellation  of  this  contract  was  revoked  at  a  later  referendum;  the 
bank  continued  to  act  as  a  government  depository,  ibid.,  vol.  xiv,  p. 
143- 

'March  15,  1834. 

'  Pennsylvanian,  November  30,  1833. 


26i]  THE  PERIOD  OF  SUBORDINATION  I 


D 


to  "  executive  usurpation  "  was  stressed  as  the  bond  of 
union  for  all  those  unfriendly  to  the  occupant  of  the  White 
House.  The  cue  for  the  politicians  was  again  furnished 
by  Clay/ 

On  February  22,  1834,  a  mass  meeting  at  Philadelphia 
gave  definiteness  to  the  agitation  when  it  resolved  that  all 
those  opposed  to  the  policy  of  the  President  should  assemble 
in  convention  at  Plarrisburg.  To  clear  up  the  confusion, 
resulting  from  the  failure  to  select  a  date  for  the  conven- 
tion, "  the  Democratic  members  of  the  Legislature,"  on 
March  25,  set  May  27  as  the  time  of  meeting.  At  a  later 
meeting  they  requested  that  double  representation  be  sent 
in  order  to  impress  the  pul)lic  with  the  significance  of  the 
movement ;  it  was  thus  possible  to  seat  delegations  from  the 
two  anti-Jackson  parties,  if  they  chanced  to  be  sent  from 
any  one  county.* 

In  the  early  part  of  April  a  portion  of  the  Jackson  opposi- 
tion, adopting  the  name  from  the  nearby  states,  began  to 
call  themselves  Whigs. '^  They  endeavored  to  have  it  ac- 
cepted as  a  generic  name  for  all  the  political  opponents  of 
Jackson,  sajnng  that  "  the  great  mass  of  the  opponents  of 

^  McGrane,  op.  cit.,  p.  220,  letter  of  February  2,  1834,  to  Nicholas 
Biddle. 

^United  States  Gazette,  February  26,  April  2;  Pcnnsylvama  hitclli- 
ge>uer,  .\pril  10,  1834.  The  use  of  the  term,  "  the  Democratic  members 
of  the  Legislature,"  by  those  who  favored  the  Bank  was  declared  to 
be  deceitful  by  "the  Democratic  members  of  the  Legislature"  who 
opposed  the  bank;  Pc'nisylzania  Reporter,  April  4,  1834. 

^Pennsylvania  Intelligencer,  April  17;  United  States  Gazette,  April 
5,  16;  National  Gazette,  April  11,  16,  17.  24,  1834.  .\pparently  the  use 
of  the  word  "Whig"  was  suggested  liy  the  editor  of  the  New  York 
Courier;  it  was  immediately  used  to  describe  the  anti-Jackson  move- 
ment in  New  York,  and  a  little  later  in  Pennsylvania.  Pennsyh-ania 
Inquirer,  .'\pril  3,  5,  1834.  Sargent,  op.  cit..  vol.  i,  p.  261,  relying  on 
his  memory,  incorrectly  states  that  the  term  was  used  imlependently 
in  PiTinsylvania. 


l6  THE  WHIG  PARTY  IN  PENNSYLVANIA  [262 

Federal  usurpation,  whether  Masons  or  Anti-Masons,  are 
Democratic  Whigs;  a  man  may  be  an  Anti-Mason  and  at 
the  same  time  a  Whig."^  They  strove  to  identify  the  policy 
of  the  federal  executive  with  the  despised  Federalism,  and 
theirs  with  the  policy  of  those  who  struggled  for  freedom. 
One  of  their  county  meetings 

Resolved,  that  we  recognize  the  Democratic  doctrines  of  1798 
and  the  Democratic  Whig  principles  of  1834,  as  the  resuscitated 
Whig  doctrines  of  1776  having  for  their  object  the  fixing  of  the 
boundaries  of  the  various  departments  of  the  government,  and 
the  deliverance  of  the  people  from  the  usurpations  of  Royal 
and  Federal  power.  .  .  .  - 

The  National  Republicans  w^ere  not  unwilling  to  accept 
the  new  descriptive  title  of  Whig,  but  the  xA.nti-Masons,  al- 
though willing  to  have  the  National  Republicans  act  with 
them,  were  not  ready  to  abandon  their  own  party  name  or 
organization.  Inasmuch  as  the  Anti-Masons  were  stronger 
than  the  National  Republicans  and  had  shown  remarkable 
power  in  the  interior  counties  of  the  state  because  of  their 
sectarian  appeal,  the  situation  required  careful  handling. 
Therefore,  when  the  convention  assembled  on  May  2y,  pre- 
cautions were  taken  not  to  ofTend  the  Anti-Masons,  who 
were  present  in  goodly  numbers.  It  was  "  Resolved,  that 
this  Convention  be  styled  a  Convention  of  Delegates  from 
the  Citizens  of  Pennsylvania  opposed  to  executive  usurpa- 
tion and  abuse."  ^     It  is  impossible  to  classify  the  delegates 

1  Pennsylvania  Intelligencer,  June  12,  1834. 

*  Ibid.,  April  24,  1834,  for  Dauphin  county  mass  convention  of  April 
22.  On  May  25.  at  Doylestown,  tliere  was  formed  a  "  Jefferson  Demo- 
cratic Association"  of  those  who  opposed  Jackson;  ibid.,  June  12, 
1834- 

'  National  Gazette,  June  3,  1834.  For  the  Anti-Masonic  party  in 
Pennsylvania,  see  McCarthy,  "  The  Antimasonic  Party,"  Report  of  the 
American  Historical  Association,  1902,  vol.  i,  pp.  427-503. 


263]  ^-^^  PERIOD  OF  SUBORDINATION  1 7 

according  to  previous  political  affiliation,  but  it  was  claimed 
that  seventy-five  of  the  two  hundred  and  eight  in  attendance 
were  former  supporters  of  Jackson/  Thaddeus  Stevens, 
Neville  B.  Craig,  Ner  Middleswarth,  and  Joseph  Lawrence 
were  prominent  Anti-Masons  in  attendance,  the  last  named 
being  chosen  president  of  the  convention.  Due  to  the  op- 
position of  this  group  no  new  political  organization  could 
be  attempted,  and  therefore  it  was 

Resolved,  that  it  be  earnestly  recommended  to  our  fellow- 
citizens,  throughout  this  commonwealth,  along  with  zeal  and 
energ}'  in  the  great  and  good  cause,  to  cultivate  a  spirit  of 
conciliation  and  mutual  respect ;  and  that  it  be  further  earnestly 
recommended  to  them,  to  distinguish  with  their  high  appro- 
bation and  confidence,  every  member  of  Congress  or  of  the 
Legislature,  by  whatever  name  he  may  have  been  chosen,  who 
in  his  station  has  faithfully  resisted  Executive  usurpation  and 
abuse,  and  firmly  maintained  the  rights  of  the  people.- 

Inasmuch  as  there  were  no  general  officers  to  be  chosen,  the 
question  of  joint  action  assumed  only  local  importance.  In 
the  districts  where  the  National  Republicans  had  developed 
strength,  particularly  in  Philadelphia  and  its  environs,  the 
Whigs  directed  the  contest.  In  the  balance  of  the  state 
control  rested  with  the  Anti-Masons,  excepting  in  a  few 
counties,  such  as  Allegheny,  where  cooperation  was  refused.^ 
The  election  failed  to  disclose  any  unusual  movement 
away  from  the  Democratic  party  despite  the  strenuous 
efforts,  made  in  Philadelphia,  to  stir  up  enthusiasm  ft-r  the 
new  party.     The  A\'^hig  city  convention  had  urged 

the  mechanics,  manufacturers,  merchants,  and  all  others  en- 

'  Pennsylvania  Intelligencer,  May  29,  1834. 

*  Proceedings  of  the  convention  in  Niles'  Register,  vol.  xlvi.  p.  243. 
»  Pennsylvanian,  May  22,  1834 ;  Konkle,  Life  and  Speeches  of  Thomas 
IVilUams,  vol.  i,  p.  97. 


l8  THE  WHIG  PARTY  IN  PENNSYLVANIA  [264 

gaged  in  trade,  who  are  opposed  to  the  odious  tyranny  of 
Andrew  Jackson,  to  close  their  workshops,  stores  and  places 
of  business,  on  the  days  of  the  ward  and  general  elections,  at 
12  o'clock  noon,  for  the  remainder  of  the  day,  so  that  all  who 
are  disposed  may  be  enabled  to  lend  their  aid  in  support  of  the 
constitution  and  the  law.^ 

Despite  these  efforts  the  Democrats  retained  control  of  the 
legislature,  although  they  carried  several  districts  through 
the  failure  of  their  opponents  to  cooperate,  and  they  like- 
wise elected  a  majority  of  the  Congressmen.  The  Whigs, 
in  the  main,  attributed  their  defeat  to  the  superior  organiza- 
tion of  the  Democrats,  but  one  Whig  editor  claimed,  "  The 
Jackson  men  succeeded  in  some  parts  of  the  State  in  making 
the  question  Bank  or  no  Bank,  instead  of  usurpation  and 
Van  Buren  on  the  one  side,  and  Democracy  and  the  Con- 
stitution on  the  other."  ^  Though  thoroughgoing  coopera- 
tion had  not  been  attained  in  tliis  election,  yet  a  breach  had 
been  made  in  the  isolating  wall  of  Anti^Masonry. 

The  Anti-Masons  were  not  yet,  however,  ready  to  join  a 
fusion  with  the  Whigs.  This  they  made  evident  when 
"  the  Democratic  Convention  opposed  to  secret  societies  and 
political  intrigue,"  meeting  at  Harrisburg  on  March  4,  1835, 
nominated  Joseph  Ritner  for  governor.*  Ritner  was  the 
logical  candidate;  for,  although  defeated  in  the  electionsi 
of  1829  and  of  1832,  he  had  shown  remarkable  strength. 
He  was  a  Pennsylvania  German,  with  all  their  characteristic 
traits  and  could  count  on  the  support  of  that  group 
within  the  state.  As  a  young  man  he  had  left  his  native 
county,  Berks,  had  crossed  the  mountains,  and  settled  as 

1  National  Gazette,  September  27,  1834. 

»  Pennsylvania  Intelligencer,  October  17,  1834.  The  situation  in  Phila- 
delphia was  tense.  Biddle,  in  fear  of  personal  violence,  sent  hiS 
family  out  of  the  city.     Cattcrall,  op.  cit,  p.  356. 

'Pennsylvania  Intelligencer,  March  5,  9,  13,  1835. 


Q 

r-i— 


CO 

00 


•A 

O 

0 


■< 
o 

1 

s: 

'A 

O 


265]  THE  PERIOD  OF  SUBORDINATION  ir, 

a  farmer  in  Washington  county.  For  six  years,  from  1820 
to  1825,  he  had  been  returned  in  the  annual  elections  to 
the  house  of  representatives,  cxver  which  he  presided  in 
1824  and  in  1825,  being  chosen  without  opposition  in  the 
latter  year.  Although  his  views  on  the  bank  question  were 
not  considered  by  the  Anti-Masons  when  they  nominated 
him,  yet  they  were  of  such  a  nature  as  to  prove  attractive  to 
the  Whigs.     During  his  campaign  of  1832  he  had  written, 

It  is  impossible  to  forget  the  deplorable  condition  of  the 
Government,  during  the  late  war,  for  want  of  such  a  Bank, 
and  the  wretched  state  of  the  currency  up  to  the  time  the  Bank 
commenced  operations  was  no  less  so.  I  can  scarcely  persuade 
myself,  that  the  man  who  can  oppose  re-chartering  the  Bank, 
with  all  these  facts  staring  him  in  the  face,  possesses  either  a 
sound  head,  or  a  good  heart.^ 

With  such  an  opinion  on  the  value  of  the  bank,  he  was  in 
this  respect  well-nigh  all  the  Whigs  hoped  for.  Conse- 
quently demands  for  a  Whig  state  convention  were  rebuffed 
by  county  conventions,  which  endorsed  the  candidacy  of 
Ritner."  The  Whigs  were  fully  conscious  of  their  num- 
erical weakness,  and  one  of  them  stated,  "  There  are  not 
five  counties  in  the  State,  in  which  they  can  poll  a  larger 
vote  than  the  Anti-Masons."  ^  The  Whigs  were  all  the 
more  willing  to  submit  to  this  disdainful  attitude  of  the 

>  Democratic  State  Journal,  June  20,  1835,  reprint  of  leUer,  dated 
July  7,  1832. 

*  Pennsyhanta  IntcUigei'cer,  March  13,  30,  April  23,  June  11,  .^u^st 
27;  United  States  Gazette,  March  14,  18,  April  25,  May  23,  June  20,  24, 
1835. 

»  Carlisle  Herald,  quoted  in  the  Pennsylvania  Intelligencer,  March 
13.  1835.  The  editor  estimated  the  Whip  strenprth  to  be  30,000.  and 
the  Anti-Masonic  60,0000.  On  the  other  hand,  the  United  States' 
CiCLzette  claimed  the  Whig  vote  totaled  50,000;  quoted  in  the  Pennsy- 
lvania Intelligencer,  March  5,  1835. 


20  THE  WHIG  PARTY  IN  PENNSYLVANIA  [266 

Anti-Masons,  for  the  Democratic  party  had  spHt  into  two 
factions,  the  one  nominating  George  Wolf  for  reelection, 
and  the  other  supporting  Henry  A.  Muhlenberg.  This 
factional  fight  boded  well  for  the  opposition. 

The  struggle  in  the  Democratic  ranks  had  been  develop- 
ing for  some  years.  Fundamentally  it  was  an  effort  to 
oust  Governor  Wolf  and  his  supporters  from  the  offices, 
which  they  had  been  holding  for  two  terms,  and  to  fill  them 
with  other  Democrats.  Involved  with  this  were  other 
issues.  In  December,  1833,  Samuel  McKean,  a  close  friend 
of  the  govenior,  was  chosen  to  represent  the  state  in  the 
United  States  Senate.  Shortly  after  his  election,  the  news- 
papers reported  that  he  favored  a  presidential  nominatingi 
convention  to  select  the  candidates  for  1836.  To  clear  up 
all  doubts  on  this  question,  in  an  open  letter  of  December 
15,  1833,  he  stated, 

I  am,  and  always  have  been,  decidedly  and  unequivocally  op- 
posed to  this  singular  innovation  upon  the  established  usages  of 
the  democratic  party,  and  adverse  to  the  consummation  of  the 
single  and  especial  object  intended  to  be  accomplished  by  it.^ 

His  friendship  with  Governor  Wolf  was  so  close  that  the 
opinion,  expressed  in  the  letter,  was  accepted  as  that  of  the 
governor.  On  December  16,  before  the  letter  was  pub- 
lished, certain  of  the  Democratic  members  of  the  legislature 
resolved  in  favor  of  a  national  nominating  convention.^ 
The  issue  was  thus  sharply  drawn  by  the  "  Convention  De- 
mocrats," who  were  inevitably  led  by  their  declaration  into 
opposition  to  the  governor.  During  1834  the  sentiment 
of  the  "  Convention  Democrats  "  concentrated  on  Henry  A. 
Muhlenberg. 

Muhlenberg  came  from  a  powerful  family  with  traditions 

'  Niks'  Register,  vol.  xlv,  p.  295. 
'  Ibid.,  vol.  xlv,  p.  295. 


267]  THE  PERIOD  OF  SUBORDINATION  21 

of  leadership  among  the  Pennsylvania  Germans  and  with 
a  penchant  for  the  governorship/  For  twenty-seven  years 
he  had  been  the  pastor  of  a  large  church  at  Reading,  and 
consequently  had  a  strong  following.  Failing  health  made 
him  resign  his  charge  and  retire  toi  a  farm.  Immediately 
he  was  induced  to  stand  for  Congress.  After  his  election, 
in  1829,  he  resigned  from  the  ministry.  In  Congress 
JMuhlenberg  heartily  endorsed  the  views  of  Jackson  on  the 
bank,  declaring  that  he  was  "  opposed  to  the  present  or  any 
other  National  Bank."  "  On  the  other  hand,  although  Wolf 
had  not  opposed  Jackson  in  his  struggle  with  the  bank, 
yet  his  views  and  those  of  Jackson  did  not  coincide,  for 
Wolf,  in  183 1  and  in  1832,  had  signed  resolutions  of  the 
legislature  favoring  the  rechartering  of  the  Bank  of  the 
United  States.^  On  the  question  of  calling  a  convention  to 
amend  the  state  constitution,  Muhlenberg  took  a  positive, 
favorable  stand,  but  Wolf  was  evasively  non-committal. 
Both  factions  were  forced  to  admit  that  they  favored  Van 
Buren  for  the  presidency.  On  March  4,  1835,  the  Demo- 
cratic convention  of  the  state  assembled  at  Harrisburg  with 
the  factions  of  equal  strength  and  with  a  large  number  of 
contesting  delegations.  After  a  struggle  of  several  days) 
the  Muhlenberg  supporters  won  a  tactical  victory  in  having 
resolutions  adopted,  calling  for  the  choice  of  nev^r  delegates 
to  meet  in  state  convention  at  Lewistown  on  May  6. 
Thereupon  the  Muhlenberg  men  returned  home.     The  Wolf 

*  His  uncle,  the  Rev.  Frederick  \.  Muhlenberg,  was  the  Federal  can- 
didate in  1793  and  in  1796;  his  cousiti>  John  A.  Schulze,  was  elected 
governor  in  1823  and  in  1826;  his  father-in-law,  Joseph  Hiestcr,  de- 
feated in  181 7,  was  elected  in  1820. 

•Letter  of  January  26,  1835;  Democratic  State  Journal,  April  11, 
1835. 

"Resolutions  of  April  2,  1831,  Session  Lazvs,  1830-31,  p.  505;  resolu- 
tions of  February  10,  1832,  ibid.,  1831-32,  p.  625;  resolutions  of  June 
6,  1832.  ibid..  1831-32,  p.  644. 


22  THE  WHIG  PARTY  IN  PENNSYLVANIA  [268 

supporters  met  the  following  clay,  filled  up  their  body  as 
well  as  they  could,  and  placed  Wolf  in  nomination.  When 
the  Lewistown  convention  assembled,  there  w'as  no  opposi- 
tion to  the  nomination  of  Muhlenberg/ 

Feeling  between  the  Democratic  factions  ran  high;  the 
Muhlenberg  supporters  constantly  sneered  at  Wolf  as  "  the 
caucus  nominee."  As  was  to  be  expected,  the  election  re- 
sulted in  defeat  for  the  Democrats  with  Ritner  receiving  a 
plurality  O'f  the  votes  cast.^  "  There  has  been  not  only  a 
Ritner  current  but  a  Ritner  flood,"  wrote  the  defeated  gov- 
ernor.^ Control  of  the  legislature  was  also  wrested  from 
the  Democrats.  The  lower  house  contained  twenty-eight 
Whigs,  forty-six  Anti-Masons,  and  twenty-six  Democrats; 
it  chose  Ner  Middleswarth,  an  Anti-Mason,  as  its  speaker.* 
The  senate  remained  under  the  control  of  the  Democrats, 
who  w^ere,  however,  divided  by  their  factional  fight.  Tak- 
ing advantage  of  this  situation,  the  Whigs  and  Anti-Masonsi 
threw  their  support  to  Thomas  S.  Cunningham,  a  Muhlen- 
berg man,  and  elected  him  speaker.^  This  proved  to  be  an 
extremely  wise  move,  for  he  and  some  o^f  the  other  Muhlen- 
berg men  were  later  won  away  from  the  Democratic  party. 

'^  Niks'  Register,  vol.  xlviii,  pp.  21,  65,  190.  Both  the  national  con- 
vention and  President  Jackson  carefully  avoided  acting  as  arbiters 
between  the  factions;  ibid.,  vol.  xlviii,  pp.  227-29,  344,  378;  vol.  xlix, 
p.  27. 

'  Tlie  vote  was  Ritner  94,023;  Wolf  65,804;  Muhlenberg  40,586; 
Smull's  Legislative  Hand-Book,  1919,  p.  719.  A  Democratic  editor 
estimated  that  the  Anti^Masons  cast  between  40,000  and  50,000  of 
Ritner's  vote;  The  Keystone,  October  4,  1837. 

•Governor  George  Wolf  to  Lewis  S.  Coryell,  October  16,  1835; 
Coryell  Papers,  vol.  iii. 

*  National  Gazette,  March  16,  1836, 

5  Pennsylvania  Intelligencer,  October  22,  1835.  states  the  following  as 
the  constituency  of  the  Senate:  anti-Van  Buren  14;  Wolf- Van  Buren 
II ;  Muhlenberg- Van  Buren  8.  For  tlie  election  of  the  speakers  see 
United  States  Gazette,  December  4,  1835. 


269]  ^^^  PERIOD  OF  SUBORDINATION  2;^ 

Whether  the  Whigs  were  promised  a  state  charter  for 
the  Bank  of  the  United  States  in  return  for  their  support 
of  Ritner  is  not  clear,  but  such  a  measure  was  discussed 
immediately  after  the  election/  Although  the  national 
charter  of  the  bank  was  to  expire  on  March  4,  1836,  yet  the 
bank  did  not  proceed  to  wind  up  its  affairs  and  the  price  of 
its  stock  rose  considerably.-  When  the  legislature  assem- 
bled, the  speaker  of  the  house  appointed  committees  favor- 
able to  the  bank,  notifying  Nicholas  Biddle.  president  of  the 
bank,  of  their  constituency  before  publicly  announcing 
them.^  John  H.  Walker,  chairman  of  the  Committee  on 
Ways  and  Means,  and  E.  F.  Pennypacker,  chainnan  of  the 
Committee  on  Banks,  sent  Biddle  a  joint  letter  inquiring 
under  what  conditions  he  Avould  accept  a  state  charter.* 
The  reply  of  Biddle  on  January'  7,  1836,  outlined  the  con- 
ditions which,  with  a  few  alterations,  were  later  incorpor- 
ated in  the  act.  He  urged  that  action  be  taken  before  Fe1> 
ruary  17,  on  which  date  the  stockholders  were  scheduled  to 
take  action  on  the  expected  charter.^ 

Absolute  secrecy  on  the  proposed  action  was  maintained 
until  January  19,  1836,  when  Thaddeus  Stevens,  a  member 
of  the  Committee  on  Inland  Navigation  and  Internal  Im- 
provements, introduced  a  bill,  which  amongst  other  things 

'  National  Gazette,  October  19,  20,  21,  1835.  Biddle  had  been  con- 
templating a  state  charter  for  over  a  year;  McGrane,  op.  cit.,  pp.  245, 
257- 

*  United  States  Gazette,  November  5,  1835.  On  January  4,  1836.  the 
price  quoted  was  $1 13^/2  and  on  February  19,  1836,  it  was  $1313/25 
National  Gazette,  January  4,  February  19,  1836. 

*  McGrane,  op.  cit.,  p.  257. 

^  House  Journal,  1836-37,  vol.  ii,  pp.  745,  757;  an  investigating  com- 
mittee established  the  fact  of  the  correspondence  but  did  not  obtain 
the  letter. 

*  McGrane,  op.  cit.,  p.  246;  the  date  of  the  letter  is  erroneously  given 
■as  1835. 


24  THE  WHIG  PARTY  IN  PENNSYLVANIA  [27a 

provided  for  a  charter  for  the  bank/  The  chairman  of 
this  committee,  WilHam  B.  Reed,  a  Philadelphia  lawyer, 
acting  as  one  of  the  agents  of  the  bank,  had  written  Biddle 
that  to  secure  votes,  "  The  temptation  oif  a  turnpike,  or  a  few 
miles  of  canal  and  railroad,  as  a  beginning  on  a  favorite 
route  is  nearly  irresistible."  -  Stevens  claimed  credit  for 
evolving  the  scheme,  whereby  the  state  works  might  be  ex- 
tended and  the  state  debt  not  increased,  a  policy  to  which  he 
thought  Ritner  was  pledged.  This  was  to  be  accomplished 
by  securing  a  bonus  for  the  charter  from  the  bank.  This 
bonus  could  also  be  used  to  warrant  the  repeal  of  the  tax: 
laws.  The  sections  of  the  act  relating  to  the  repeal  of  the 
tax  laws  were  drafted  by  Stevens,  while  Reed  framed  the 
portions  dealing  with  the  extension  of  the  public  works  and 
the  charter  of  the  bank.^  On  January  29,  ten  days  after 
its  introduction,  this  important  measure  passed  the  house.* 
Its  passage  in  tlie  senate  was  temporarily  postponed  until 
a  committee  investigated  charges  of  bribery.  The  majority 
of  the  committee  reported  that  they 

believe  that  a  deliberate  plan  was  concoct'ed  beyond  the  limits 
of  Pennsylvania,  to  control  the  deliberations  of  the  legislature 
by  the  pressure  of  the  people  acting  under  an  excitement  created 
by  incendiary  falsehoods,  sent  forth  upon  responsible  authority, 
charging  the  bank  with  bribery,  and  the  senate  with  interested 
treachery.^ 

1  House  Journal,  1835-36,  vol.  i,  p.  279. 

'  McGrane,    op.    cit.,   p.    258,    letter    of    December    12,    1835. 

'  House  Journal,  1836-37,  vol.  ii,  pp.  769,  et  seq. 

*  Ibid.,  1835-36,  vol.  i,  p.  407;  the  vote  was  57  to  30;  the  votes  in  the 
negative  came  from  26  Democrats,  3  Whigs  and  i  Anti-Mason,  Penn- 
sylvania Reporter,  February  12,  1836. 

^Senate  Journal,  1835-36,  vol.  ii,  p.  650. 


271]  THE  PERIOD  OF  SUBORDINATION  25 

After  this  report  had  been  made,  the  bill  was  again  taken  up, 
passed,  and  approved  on  February  18,  1836/ 

The  title  of  this  measure  was,  "  An  act  to  repeal  the  state 
tax  on  real  and  personal  property,  and  to  continue  and  ex- 
tend the  improvements  of  the  state  by  railroads  and  canals, 
and  to  cliarter  a  state  bank,  to  be  called  the  United  States 
Bank."  It  repealed  the  law  of  March  25,  183 1,  which  had 
levied  a  tax  on  certain  classes  of  property  for  the  use  of  the 
state."  This  act,  which  was  temporary  in  nature,  would 
have  expired  on  March  25,  1836,  but  taxation  was  tO'  cease 
as  of  October  i,  1835.^  Direct  taxation  was  abominated  in 
the  state  and  its  repeal  was  an  effort  to  win  support  for  the 
coalition. 

For  its  charter  of  thirty  years  and  exemption  from  taxa- 
tion on  its  dividends,  the  bank  was  to  pay  a  bonus  of 
$2,000,000.  It  was  also  to  pay  $500,000  in  1837,  and 
$100,000  annually  thereafter  for  twenty  years,  to  be  used 
by  the  newly  established  public  school  system.  The  bank 
could  be  called  on  for  a  permanent  loan  up  to  $6,000,000 
and  for  a  temporary  loan  up  to  $1,000,000  in  any  one  year, 
both  loans  to  carry  a  low  rate  of  interest.  The  bank  was 
also  required  to  subscribe  $675,000  to  various  designated 
railroads  and  turnpike  companies.  Of  the  $2,000,000, 
which  the  state  received,  all  but  about  $50,000  was  im- 
mediately appropriated ;  $600,000  were  to  be  devoted  to  the 
pavment  of  the  interest  on  the  public  debt;  $139,000  were 

^  Session  Laws,  1835-36,  p.  36.  At  a  meeting  on  February  20,  1S36. 
the  stockholders  of  the  Bank  of  the  United  States,  incorporated  by  the 
United  States,  transferred  all  its  property  and  rights  to  the  state 
chartered  bank  of  the  same  name.  Tliere  was  no  change  in  the  stock- 
holders, excepting  the  elimination  of  the  United  States.  National 
Gazette,  February  2^,  1836;  Niles'  Register,  vol.  1,  p.  23. 

''Session  Laws,  1830-31,  p.  206. 

*  This  was  accomplished  by  a  proclamation  of  the  governor  dateJ 
March  11,  1836;  Pennsylvania  Intelligencer,  March  17,  1836. 


26  THE  WHIG  PARTY  IN  PENNSYLVANIA  [272 

granted  to  turnpike  companies;  extensions  of  the  state 
works,  including  the  notorious  Gettysburg  railroad  on  which 
work  was  ordered  to  be  begun,  were  to  receive  $550,000; 
there  were  set  aside  for  surveys  $12,000,  and  for  repairs 
and  for  new  equipment  on  the  old  works  a  little  over  $650,- 
000.  These  various  "  temptations  "  had  proven  "  irresis- 
tible." 

The  bill  had  been  supported  in  the  senate  by  the  anti-Van 
Buren  members  and  by  eight  Van  Buren  men,  chiefly 
Muhlenberg  partisans.  The  support  of  the  Muhlenberg* 
men  seems  distinctly  strange,  for  in  the  last  campaign  they 
had  accused  Governor  Wolf  of  being  anti-Jackson  in  sign- 
ing tlie  bank  rechartering  resolutions.  The  views  of  some 
of  the  eight  had  been  decidedly  anti-bank.  Charles  B. 
Penrose,  one  of  them,  had,  on  March  19,  1834,  declared, 
"  I  can  never  lend  my  aid  to  a  recharter  of  the  present  bank, 
under  any  circumstance."  Another  one  of  them,  John 
Dickey,  had,  at  the  same  time,  stated  that  he  was  opposed 
to  a  recharter  because  the  bank  involved  "  a  dangerous  con- 
centration of  the  monied  power  of  the  country."  ^  After 
the  passage  of  the  bill,  both  Penrose  and  Dickey  tried  to 
justify  their  vote  for  the  state  charter  by  claiming  that  they 
had  not  changed  their  views,  for  the  corporation  was  now 
not  a  national  but  a  "  new  state  bank,"  by  no  means  having 
the  power  of  the  expired  national  institution."  Criticisms 
by  the  Washington  organ  of  Van  Buren  led  Penrose  to 
declare  that  this  is 

not  a  party  question,  it  is  a  Pennsylvania  question,  and  nothing 
but  an  interference  in  that  question,  which  belongs  exclusively 

>  Pennsylvania  Reporter,  February  4,  1836. 

'  Ibid.,  February  16,  for  letters  of  Charles  B.  Penrose  and  Jesse  R. 
Burden;  letters  of  John  Dickey,  Pennsylvania  Intelligencer,  March  3, 
September  8,  1836. 


273]  ^^^^  PERIOD  OF  SUBORDINATION  o-J 

to  us  as  Pennsylvanians  to  consider,  by  the  candidate  of  the 
National  Convention  for  the  Presidency,  would  induce  me  to 
believe  that  the  large  mass  of  Pennsylvania  Democracy,  which 
will  be  found  in  support  of  this  great  State  measure,  were 
absolved  from  their  party  obligation  to  support  him.^ 

In  a  letter  of  February  22,  1836,  addressed  to  followers  in 
Cincinnati,  V^an  Buren  sharply  criticized  the  state  legislature 
for  passing  the  act.-  The  letter  more  deeply  offended  the 
eight  senators;  they  placed  themselves  in  opposition  to  Van 
Buren  and  from  this  time  forward  identified  themselves 
W'ith  the  Whigs  and  Anti-Masons.  On  March  4  the  eight 
were  given  a  banquet  by  the  opponents  of  Van  Buren  and 
welcomed  into  the  ranks  of  those  w^ho  saw  "  that  the  only 
safety  for  constitutional  freedom,  is  a  maintenance  of  the 
reserved  rights  of  the  states."  ^ 

The  legislature,  elated  by  this  simple  method  of  procuring 
funds,  proceeded  to  deal  with  other  banks  in  a  similar  man- 
ner. The  Girard  Bank  desired  to  increase  its  capital  from 
$1,500,000  to  $5,000,000  in  order  that  it  might  receive  a 
larger  portion  of  the  deposits  of  the  government.  Despite 
a  veto  by  the  governor  the  measure  became  law;  the  bank 
was  to  have  its  charter  for  twenty  years,  pay  a  bonus  of 
$250,000,  but  was  not  to  be  exempt  from  dividend  taxa- 
tion.* The  veto  by  the  governor  of  a  measure  to  increase 
the  capital  stock  of  other  banks  was  effective.^  The 
bonuses,  paid  by  the  banks,  cnipled  with  the  repeal  of  the 
tax  laws,  and  the  distribution  of  the  surplus  by  the  national 

'  Pennsylvan'xa  Intelligencer,  February  22,  1836. 
»  Xiles'  Register,  vol.  1,  p.  135. 

*  Pennsylvania  Intelligencer,  March  8,  1836. 

*  United  States  Commercial  and  Statistical  Register,  vol.   i,   p.  346; 
Session  Laws,  1835-36,  p.  133. 

*  House  lournal,  1835-36,  vol.  i,  p.  1443. 


28  THE  WHIG  PARTY  IN  PENNSYLVANIA  [274 

government,  completely  unbalanced  the  financial  sense  of 
the  commonwealth.  From  its  dementia  the  state  was  to 
recover  only  after  a  long  and  painful  period  of  impotence.^ 
The  odium  for  this  condition  rests  squarely  upon  the  coali- 
tion. 

In  the  meantime,  agitation  for  the  presidential  nomina- 
tion had  been  in  progress.  In  Pennsylvania  William  H. 
Harrison  seemed  to  be  the  favorite  candidate  of  those  in 
opposition  to  the  Democrats.  He  had  been  suggested  in 
the  newspapers  immediately  after  the  election  of  1834." 
Newspaper  agitation  alone  would  accomplish  nothing;  so 

1  Bishop,  "  The  State  Works  of  Pennsylvania,"  in  Transactions  of 
the  Connecticut  Academy  of  Arts  and  Sciences,  vol.  xiii,  pp.  214,  et  seq. 
The  intimate  connection  of  the  state  and  the  banks  is  shown  by  the 
following  figures.  From  May,  1814,  to  May  i,  1837,  the  state  re- 
ceived as  premiums  on  bank  charters  $3,302,586.18  with  $2,185,916.67 
still  receivable;  the  tax  on  bank  dividends  during  the  same  period  was 
$785,804.89;  and  the  dividends,  paid  on  state-owned  bank  stock, 
amounted  to  $5,684,067.00.  Proceedings  and  Debates  of  the  Constitu- 
tional Convention,  1837-38,  vol.  i,  pp.  495-501.  The  following  table 
shows  how  little  reliance  was  placed  on  taxation : 

Tax  on  real  Licenses  and  land 

and  f^es;  dividends  on 

personal  state-owned  stock; 

property  tax  on  hank  dividends 

1832 $94,592.34  $422,623.56 

1833  226,043.15  540,211.63 

1834  219,501.12  294,134.59 

1835   208,400.96  299,831.85 

1836  224,310.31  356,97348 

1837  54.310.00  395,119.58 

1838  10,101.28  397,638.67 

1839  18,283.29  397,089.79 

1840  2,697.86  352,980.01 

For  the  years  listed  the  sums  represent  the  income  of  the  state,  witli| 
the  exception  that  the  bonuses  from  the  banks  and  the  sums  received 
from  the  national  government  through  the  distribution  of  the  surplus 
are  not  included;  House  Journal,  1844,  vol.  ii,  p.  420. 
'  Pennsylvania  Intelligencer,  December  14,  1834. 


2-7-]  THE  PERIOD  OF  SUBORDINATION  29 

a  call,  signed  by  eleven  men,  who  styled  themselves  the 
"  Democratic  Republican  Committee,"  was  issued.  The 
call  summoned  those  favoring  General  Harrison  to  meet  at 
Harrisburg  on  December  14,  1835,  in  order  to  place  him  in 
nomination,  to  frame  an  electoral  ticket,  and  to  begin  the 
work  necessary  to  secure  his  election.  It  was  stated  that 
"  the  Democratic  supporters  of  the  present  chief  magistrate, 
the  Democratic  Whigs,  and  the  Democratic  Anti-Masons 
may,  without  losing  their  party  names,  or  giving  up  their 
party  organization,  be  cordially  invited  to  participate."  ^ 
This  convention  was  not  intended  to  interfere  with  the 
Anti-Masonic  convention,  which  met  at  the  same  time  and 
at  the  same  place.  In  fact,  when  the  two  conventions  met, 
the  Harrison  convention  waited  for  the  Anti-Masonic  body 
to  act;  it  adjourned  from  day  to  day,  watched  the  proceed- 
ings of  the  other  body,  followed  it  in  nominating  Harrison 
and  Granger,  and  adjourned  sine  die  after  adopting  the 
electoral  ticket  formed  by  the  Anti-Masons.  It  resolved 
against  calling  a  national  convention  as  "  it  is  a  powerful 
engine,  not  only  in  the  hands  of  unprincipled  demagogues, 
to  defeat  the  will  of  the  people,  but  to  enable  the  Federal 
Executive  to  appoint  his  successor."  - 

In  the  resolution  against  the  national  convention  the 
members  of  the  Harrison  body  reflected  the  attitude  of  the 
majority  of  the  Anti-Masons  within  the  state  with  whom 
they  wished  to  cooperate.  \Mien  the  Anti-Masonic  con- 
vention decided  to  place  a  candidate  for  the  presidency  in 
nomination  and  not  to  choose  delegates  to  a  national  con- 
vention, the  organization  was  split.  The  presiding  officer 
of  the  convention,  Hamiar  Denny,  along  with  Thaddeus 
Stevens   and   seven  other  delegates,    left   the   convention. 

1  Pennsylvania  Intelligencer,  October  29,   1835. 
*  Ibid.,  December  17,  21,  1835. 


30  THE  WHIG  PARTY  IN  PENNSYLVANIA  [276 

They  saw  the  trend  toward  fusion  with  the  newer  organiza- 
tion and  were  endeavoring  to  prevent  it.^  In  the  address 
caUing  a  national  convention  of  the  Anti-Masons,  the  sece- 
ders  condemned  the  attempted  amalgamation,  in  their  hour 
of  triumph,  with  the  ''  Masonic  Whigger>\"  -     One  of  the 

'There  is  much  truth  to  the  comment  of  the  Harrisburg  Chronicle 
(Van  Buren  paper),  December  21,  1835,  that  it  ''was  as  much  intended 
to  put  down  Thaddeus  S.  and  a  few  others,  as  it  was  to  put  up 
General  Harrison."  Ritner  at  this  time  did  not  fully  trust  Stevens, 
and  was  evidently  bent  on  placing  himself  at  the  head  of  the  Anti- 
Masonic  organization.  Stevens  had  opposed  Ritner's  nomination  for 
the  preceding  gubernatorial  election ;  Hood,  "  Thaddeus  Stevens,"  in 
Harris,  Biographical  History  of  Lancaster  County,  p.  578.  Tlie 
struggle  broke  out  in  the  convention  over  the  seating  of  James  Todd, 
Ritner's  nominee  for  the  attorney-generalship.  Todd  was  applying 
for  the  seat  of  his  son,  who  had  resigned.  The  vote  on  the  question 
of  seating  the  elder  Todd  indicated  clearly  that  tlie  governor  con- 
trolled the  convention.  Nor  did  close  relations  exist  between  the; 
governor  and  Stevens  over  legislative  matters,  inasmuch  as  the  bank 
bills  favored  by  Stevens  had  received  vetoes.  In  fact,  Stevens  had 
been  so  much  disgusted  with  the  nomination  of  Ritner  that  he  had  not 
intended  to  be  a  candidate  for  the  legislature  in  the  elections  of  1835. 
His  friends  insisted  that  the  party  needed  experienced  guides  and  he 
yielded  to  this  pressure;  Thomas  Elder  to  Joseph  Wallace,  August  3, 
1835 ;  Wm.  McPherson  Mss. 

» Pennsylvania  Reporter,  January  5,  1836.  Stevens'  organ,  the  Gettys- 
burg Star,  April  11,  1836,  quoted  in  the  Pennsylvania  Intelligencer, 
April  14,  1836,  said  that  the  national  convention  would  "  attempt  to 
survive  and  sustain  pure  unmixed  .Ajiti- Masonry — not  to  daub  overt 
the  foul  treacherous  doings  of  the  'base  compound'  Harrisburg  Con- 
vention;" it  would  avoid  "alike  the  insidious  Masonic  Van  Buren  and 
the  unblushing  Masonic  Harrison."  For  their  alleged  distrust  of! 
Harrison's  Anti-Masonry,  cf.  McCarthy,  "The  .Anti-Masonic  Party," 
in  the  Annual  Report  of  the  American  Historical  Association  1902,  vol. 
i,  pp.  480,  et  scq.;  Memoirs  of  John  Quincy  Adams,  vol.  ix,  p.  -zy^)-  The 
seceders  were  supporters  of  Webster;  for  a  portion  of  the  correspond- 
ence with  him,  cf..  The  Writings  and  Speeches  of  Daniel  Webster,  voL 
xvi,  p.  259;  vol.  xviii,  p.  12.  After  Harrison's  election  in  1840,  thisi 
group  of  the  Anti-Masons  claimed  that  even  in  1836  they  had  been 
working  to  secure  his  nomination  by  a  national  convention ;  Joseph 
Wallace  to  William  H.  Harrison,  January  — ,  1841  ;  Wm.  McPherson 
Mss.  I 


2-77]  THE  PERIOD  OF  SUBORDINATION  3 1 

seceding  nine  editorially  described  the  Anti-Masonic  state 
convention  as 

a  set  of  political  resurrectionists,  having  dug  up  the  body  of  old 
Whiggism,  as  the  devil  wanted  to  get  that  of  Moses ;  like  vam- 
pires disturbing  the  habitations  of  the  living  with  the  odorous 
remains  of  the  departed — as  a  last  resort  to  draw  a  house  for 
the  benefit  of  Mr.  Clay.  White  is  to  be  the  Punch  of  the- 
puppets  and  Harrison  to  be  Harlequin  of  the  pantomine ;  and 
poor  Antimasonry,  unwilling  to  miss  the  show  but  excluded 
from  all  the  rest  of  the  house,  begs  for  a  ticket  in  the  slips 
among  the  women  of  the  town.^ 

The  seceders  and  their  supporters  met  in  a  so-called  national 
convention  in  Philadelphia  in  May,  passed  strong  condem- 
natory resolutions  against  the  Whigs,  but  adjourned  with- 
out endorsing  Harrison  and  Granger  or  placing  their  own 
candidates  in  nomination." 

The  Whigs  were-irot  a  unit  in  endorsing  the  work  of  the 
Harrisburg  convention.  For  a  time  the  Clay  supporters 
held  aloof,  declaring  that  it  was  not  a  Whig  convention  and 
that  consequently  they  were  not  bound  by  its  action.^  The 
prospect  of  the  state  being  carried  by  Harrison  and  the  pos- 
siblity  of  the  election  then  being  thrown  into  the  House  of 
Representatives  reconciled  them.  Stevens  was,  however, 
doing  everything  in  his  power  to  make  cooperation  between 
the  two  parties  difficult,  if  not  actually  imjx>ssible.  As 
chairman    of     the     legislative    committee    to    investigate 

'  Pittsburgh  Times,  quoted  in  the  Pennsylvania  Intelligencer,  April 
14.  1836. 

2  National  Gazette,  May  6,  1836. 

*  United  States  Gazette,  December  30,  1835;  the  leaders  in  this  group 
were  Horace  Binney,  Jolxn  Price  Wetherill,  Nathan  Sargent,  and 
David  Paul  Brown. 


32  THE  WHIG  PARTY  IN  PENNSYLVANIA  [278 

Masonry,  he  took  keen  delight  in  vexing  the  Whigs/  The 
result  was  that  many  of  the  Whigs,  filled  with  disgust,  ab- 
sented themselves  from  the  polls  in  the  October  election  and 
thus  helped  encompass  the  defeat  of  some  of  the  Anti- 
Masonic  candidates  for  the  legislature. - 

Although  the  coalition  was  defeated  in  the  state  election 
of  1836,  it  entered  the  national  campaign  with  increased 
determination  to  carry  the  state  through  cooperation.^ 
Van  Buren,  who  had  never  been  a  favorite  in  Pennsylvania, 
was  attacked  "  as  the  correspondent  of  the  Pope  of  Rome — 
as  the  fawning  sycophantic  flatterer  of  a  foreign  tyrant — ■ 
for  the  base  purpose  of  arraying  one  religious  denomina- 
tion against  the  other."  *  He  was  further  attacked  for  hav- 
ing 

declared  in  the  New  York  Convention,  that  a  poor  man  ought 
not  to  have  a  vote.     He  despises  the  American  mechanics  [they 

^  McCarthy,  op.  cit.,  p.  473 ;  cf.  also  the  debate  on  tlie  resolutions  in- 
structing the  United  States  Senators  on  the  expunging  resolution, 
Pennsylvania  Intelligencer,  March  8,  1836. 

^United  States  Gazette,  October  17,  1836,  declared  that  "the  pro- 
scriptive  course  of  the  Antimasons,  particularly  the  unfortunate  affair 
at  Harrisburg,"  led  to  their  defeat  in  Adams,  Lebanon,  Dauphin,  Alle- 
gheny, and  Union  counties.  It  stated  that  a  total  of  twenty-three 
seats  in  the  house  had  been  lost  by  only  twelve  hundred  and  fifty- four 
votes;  ibid.,  October  18,  1836.  Stevens  was  defeated,  but  by  only 
fourteen  votes;  American  Volunteer,  October  14,  1836.  Joseph  Law- 
rence, now  state  treasurer,  on  October  20,  1836,  wrote  Lewis  S.  Coryell, 
"  The  abuse  heaped  upon  the  Whigs  last  winter  by  Stevens  cannot  be 
easily  swallowed  by  them."     Coryell  Papers. 

3  United  States  Gazette,  October  22,  1836. 

*  Pennsylvania  Intelligencer,  September  15,  1S36;  the  basis  of  this 
accusation  was  a  letter  of  July  20,  1830,  written  by  Van  Buren  when 
he  was  Secretary  of  State,  in  which  our  consul  at  Rome  was  authorized 
to  congratulate  the  Pope  on  his  recent  elevation,  and  to  assure  him 
in  reply  to  his  inquiry  that  the  Catholics  in  the  L^nited  States  had  the 
same  privileges  which  those  citizens  professing  another  religious  belief 
had. 


279]  ^^^  PERIOD  OF  SUBORDINATION  33 

said]  for  he  rides  in  a  British  coach,  made  in  England,  and  is 
accompanied  by  British  servants  dressed  in  livery !  What  says 
the  Democracy  ?  Will  they  support  the  Federal  Dandy  of  New 
York?     Or  the  plain  farmer — the  veteran  Harrison  of  Ohio?  ^ 

It  was  felt  that  the  state  held  the  balance  in  the  national 
election ;  consequently  the  contest  was  keen. 

In  November,  on  the  same  day  as  the  presidential  elec- 
tion, members  of  a  state  constitutional  convention  were  to 
be  chosen.  One  of  the  Democratic  candidates,  George  M. 
Dallas,  thus  outlined  the  powers  of  the  convention. 

It  may  re-organize  our  entire  system  of  social  existence,  termin- 
ating and  proscribing  what  is  deemed  injurious,  and  establishing 
what  is  preferred.  It  might  restore  the  institution  of  slavery 
amongst  us;  it  might  make  a  penal  code  as  bloody  as  that  of 
Draco;  it  might  withdraw  the  charters  of  the  cities;  it  might 
supersede  a  standing  judiciar}%  by  a  scheme  of  occasional 
arbitration  and  umpirage ;  it  might  prohibit  particular  pro- 
fessions or  trades ;  it  might  permanently  suspend  the  privilege 
of  the  writ  of  Habeas  Corpus,  and  take  from  us  (as  our  late 
General  Assembly  made  the  entering  wedge  to  do)  the  trial 
by  jury.- 

In  the  western  part  of  the  state  another  Democratic  candi- 
date, Judge  William  Wilkins,  declared  that  the  power  of 
the  convention  was  "  unlimited  and  illimitable.''  ^  These 
statements,  used  with  telling  effect  against  the  Democrats 
as  indicating  their  radicalism,  led  several  of  their  nominees 
to  the  convention  to  abandon  the  party.' 

1  Pennsylvania  Intelligencer,  July  28,  1836. ;  cf.  also  ibid.,  Novem1x;r 
3.  1836. 

-  United  States  Gazette,  November  2,  1836;  letter  to  tlic  Urailford 
county  committee. 

*  Pennsylvania  Intelligencer,  November  3,  1836. 

*  Walter  Forward  came  out  openly  against  these  contentions  and 
was  elected  to  the  convention;  United  States  Gazette,  October  28,  Nov- 
ember I,  1836.  He  worked  with  tlic  Whigs  until  they  broke  with 
Tyler. 


34  THE  WHIG  PARTY  IN  PENNSYLVANIA  [280 

The  election  resulted  in  a  victory  for  Van  Buren  and 
his  supporters.  Of  the  one  hundred  and  thirty-three  mem- 
bers of  the  constitutional  convention,  the  Democrats  secured 
a  majority  of  only  one.  The  Whigs  derived  comfort  from 
this  fact,  as  it  was  felt  that  with  so  small  a  majority  the 
Democrats  could  do  little  towards  putting  their  radical  doc- 
trines into  effect.^  The  defeat  of  Harrison  was  attributed 
by  the  Whigs  to  the  disorganized  condition  of  the  parties  in 
the  October  flection ;  they  claimed  that  some  of  the  leading 
Anti-Masons  3iad  openly  opposed  Harrison  and  Granger 
until  after  the  state  election. - 

On  May  2,  1837,  the  constitutional  convention  assembled 
at  Harrisburg  with  the  Whigs  and  Anti^Masons  now  hav- 
ing a  majority  of  one  because  of  a  special  election,  neces- 
sitated by  the  death  of  a  Democratic  member-elect.  An 
occupational  analysis  of  the  members  shows  little,  if  any, 
difference  between  the  Democrats  and  their  opponents.* 
Nor,  on  the  other  hand,  did  the  Democrats  possess  any  less 
wealth.*     These  facts  had  their  effect  on  the  work  of  the 

^Pennsylvania  Intelligencer,  November  14,  1836. 

^  Ibid.,  November  14;  United  States  Gazette,  November  15,  1836. 

*  United  States  Gazette,  June  2,  1837,  furnishes  a  list  of  the  membersi 
from  which  the  following  was  compiled. 

Dem.      0pp.  Dem.      0pp. 

Farmers   27  29      Surveyors    4  o 

Lawyers  16  24     Artisans  5  i 

Physicians  6  4      Editor  O  I 

Merchants   4  S      Gentlemen  i  o 

Manufacturers  3  3  Total 66  67 

It  is  well  nigh  impossible  in  some  cases  to  discover  whether  an  in- 
dividual was  an  Anti-'Mason  or  a  Whig.  As  nearly  as  can  be  ascer- 
tained, there  were  fifty-two  Anti-<Masons  and  fifteen  Whigs  in  the  con- 
vention. 

*  C.  J.  IngersoU,  Democratic  member  from  the  county  of  Philadelphia,, 
said  on  the  floor  of  the  convention,  "  Now,  I  will  venture  another  guess, 
that,  setting  aside  the  large  fortunes  of  two  individual  members  of  this 


> 


T) 

c 

s 

w 

e 

% 

i. 

"(T 

V 

^ 

lO 

3 

-1 

o 


^ 


£  -T3' 


-A 


•OX) 

r 

i 

o 


</) 


cC 


> 


^z*^. 


Ji 


U 


Zo 


Jo" 


H 

k-.   \Z 

Jk     / 

\ 

N>V   / 

c                 ^ 

-^ 

-y    / 

c 

\ 

^^mm 

28i]  THE  PERIOD  OF  SUBORDINATION  35 

convention,  and  in  the  beginning  of  the  sessions  a  Whig 
member  wrote  that  Httle  was  heard  "  of  radicalism,  with  re- 
ference to  vested  rights,  the  resumption  of  private  charters 
and  the  violation  of  the  compacts  of  the  state  with  indivi- 
duals/' ^ 

In  organizing  the  convention  the  Whigs  and  the  Anti- 
Masons  closely  cooperated,  having  previously  gone  into 
caucus  together  on  the  question  of  organization.  John 
Sergeant,  a  prominent  lawyer  and  politician  of  Phila- 
delphia, was  chosen  president  of  the  convention.-  The 
refusal  of  the  Whigs  to  follow  Stevens  in  his  proposition 
to  adopt  an  amendment  forbidding  the  existence  of  oath- 
bound  societies  irritated  him.^  Although,  in  the  main,  the 
Whigs  and  the  Anti-Masons  worked  harmonicKusly  together, 
yet  Stevens  at  times  took  great  pleasure  in  attacking  the 
Whigs  in  order  that  the  cooperation  might  not  be  too  pro- 
nounced.* The  small  majority  of  the  combined  Whigs  and 
Anti-Masons   made   their   control   of   the   convention   pre- 

body — one  from  the  city  of  Philadelphia  and  one  from  Pittsburg — if. 
the  property  of  the  members  of  this  convention  were  all  to  be  valued, 
and  di\aded  according  to  the  agrarian  law,  the  greater  part  would  be 
found  among  those  who  are  called  levellers.  I  am  inclined  to  think, 
that  if  a  fair  valuation  of  property  was  made  through  this  convention. 
the  agrarians,  as  they  are  termed,  would  be  found  to  possess  more 
unencumbered  real  estate,  than  those  who  are  in  such  terror  lest  there 
should  be  a  division  of  property."  Proceedings  and  Debates  of  the 
Constitutional  Convention,  1837-38,  vol.  vii,  pp.  84-85. 

'  United  States  Gazette,  May  9,  1837.  For  a  severe  criticism  of  the 
Democratic  members  see  National  Gazette,  February  26,  1838. 

^Proceedings  and  Debates  of  the  Constitutional  Convention,  1837-38, 
vol.  i,  p.  12. 

*  Journal  of  the  Constitutional  Convention,  1837-38,  vol.  ii,  pp.  489.  550. 

*  Proceedings  and  Debates,  vol.  ii,  pp.  65,  et  seq.;  a  particularly 
acrimonious  verbal  clash  occurred  between  Stevens  and  W'm.  M. 
Meredith,  in  which  the  latter  temporarily  non-plussed  Stevens  by  the 
sharpness  of  his  attack.  Stevens  was  amongst  other  things  referred 
to  as  "the  Great  Unchained  of  Adams"  county;  ibid,  pp.  108.  ct  seq. 


36  THE  WHIG  PARTY  IN  PENNSYLVANIA  [282 

carious.  Slight  defections  occurred  from  both  wings. 
They  were  caused  by  personal  predilections,  professional 
pursuits,  sectional  interest,  or  previous  political  sympathy, 
but  nevertheless,  in  the  main,  the  policies  of  the  opposing 
parties  are  shown  by  their  votes  in  the  convention. 

The  Democrats  favored  taking  the  power  of  appointing 
to  the  numerous  state  offices  away  from  the  governor,  and 
making  elevation  to  these  ofiftces  depend  on  the  will  of  the 
electorate.  The  Whigs  and  Anti-Masons  did  not  oppose 
the  election  of  justices  of  the  peace,  aldermen,  coroners, 
prothonotaries,  sheriffs  and  minor  officials,  but  sternly  op- 
posed the  proposition  to  make  judges  elective  in  the  dis- 
tricts. The  judges  of  the  courts  o^f  record  under  the 
existing  constitution  were  appointed  by  the  governor  and 
held  office  during  good  behavior.  A  compromise  was  even- 
tually reached  whereby  the  judges  were  to  hold  office  for  a 
term  of  years  after  appointment  by  the  governor  with  the 
consent  of  the  senate,  which  was  to  act  on  nominations! 
in  open  executive  session.^ 

The  Democrats  endeavored  to  have  the  restrictions  on 
the  suffrage  decreased.  They  succeeded  in  having  the  re- 
sidence requirement  lowered,  but  failed  to  have  the  tax- 
paying  qualification   removed."     Their   opponeiits   inserted 

^  The  vote  in  the  committee  of  the  whole  was  63  in  the  affirmative, 
of  which  only  10  were  Democrats,  to  51  in  the  negative,  46  of  which 
were  Democrats;  Journal  of  the  Committee  of  the  Whole,  p.  181.  The 
report  of  the  committee  of  the  whole  was  adopted  bj^  a  vote  of  60,  of 
which  6  were  Democrats,  to  48,  only  i  of  w-hich  was  Whig;  Proceed- 
ings and  Debates,  vol.  v,  p.  138.  Tlie  proposition  to  have  the  judges 
elected  by  the  voters  in  the  districts  was  defeated  by  a  vote  of  62  in 
the  affirmative,  in  which  number  were  found  12  Whigs  and  Anti- 
Masons  (consisting  of  8  farmers  and  4  lawyers),  to  64,  in  which  were 
13  Democrats  (consisting  of  4  farmers,  8  lawyers  and  i  mechanic)  ; 
Journal  of  the  Constitutional  Convention,  vol.  ii,  p.  367. 

'  Proceedings  and  Debates,  vol.  ii,  pp.  470,  et  seq. ;  vol.  iii,  pp.  159,  et 
seq. 


283]  THE  PERIOD  OF  SUBORDINATION  37 

a  clause  requiring  residence  within  the  district  for  at  least 
ten  days  preceding  the  election.  To  this  provision  the  De- 
mocrats objected  on  the  ground  that  it  would  bear  heavily 
on  the  wandering  mechanic;  the  delegates  from  the  moun- 
tain districts  feared  that  it  would  tend  to  check  immigra- 
tion to  those  sections/  The  early  efforts  of  the  Democrats 
to  insert  the  word  "  white "  in  the  constitutional  phrase 
"  every  freeman  of  the  age  of  twenty-one,"  who  had  the 
other  qualifications,  should  have  the  right  to  vote,  failed 
through  the  efforts  of  the  Whigs  and  the  Anti-Masons, 
aided  by  a  few  Democrats."  In  the  closing  days  of  the  con- 
vention party  lines  were  forgotten,  prejudice  was  appealed 
to,  and  the  clause  was  altered  by  the  insertion  of  the  word 
"  white  "  by  a  large  non-partisan  vote.^ 

It  was  natural  that  the  question  of  the  banks  should 
come  to  the  fore,  as  the  election  in  many  of  the  districts 
had  been  fought  exclusively  on  that  issue.*  The  effort  of 
the  Democrats  to  have  the  constitution  declare  that  the 
stockholders  of  a  bank  were  individually  and  severally  re- 
sponsible for  the  obligations  of  the  bank  failed.^  The  pas- 
sage of  a  resolution  expressing  the  opinion  that  a  charter  is 

^Proceedings  and  Debates,  vol.  ix,  pp.  320,  et  seq.  The  vote  was  64 
in  the  affirmative.  6  of  which  were  Democratic,  to  60  in  the  negative, 
5  of  which  were  Whig. 

-Journal  of  the  Committee  of  the  Whole,  p.  85;  49  votes,  6  of  which 
were  not  Democratic,  were  cast  in  the  affirmative,  and  61  in  the  nega- 
tive, 12  of  which  came  from  Democratic  members. 

^Journal  of  the  Constitutional  Convention,  vol.  ii,  p.  326;  the  vote  on 
January  20,  1838,  was  77  to  45 ;  19  Whigs  and  .\nti-Masons  voted  aye 
and  3  Democrats  no.  For  an  excellent  summary  of  the  debates  on 
negro  suffrage,  with  no  attention,  however,  paid  to  political  alignment, 
cf.  Olbrich,  The  Development  of  Sentiment  and  Negro  Suffrage  to  i860, 
pp.  51-70. 

♦  Harrisburg  Chronicle,  November  9,  16,  1836. 

^Journal  of  the  Committee  of  the  Whole,  p.  217;  the  vote  was  48  to 
55;  I  Whig  voted  in  the  affirmative  and  C  Democrats  in  the  negative. 


38  THE  WHIG  PARTY  IN  PENNSYLVANIA  [284 

a  "  contract  with  the  parties  to  whom  the  grant  is  made  " 
led  the  United  States  Gazette  to  exclaim, 

Agrarianism  has  this  day  been  most  signally  rebuked,  after 
one  of  the  warmest  contests  that  has  yet  been  witnessed  in 
this  convention.  The  friends  of  order,  good  government  and 
conservative  principles,  have  nobly  triumphed,  Radicalism  has 
been  fairly  beaten.  It  selected  the  battle  ground — it  com- 
menced the  conflict — it  rallied  for  the  fight,  and  it  now  lies 
bleeding  and  prostrate  !  ^ 

After  a  lengthy  debate  and  parliamentary  struggle,  in  which 
the  Whigs  and  Anti-Masons  on  on^  occasion  were  saved 
from  defeat  by  a  tie  vote,^  a  compromise  was  made  whereby 
six  months'  notice  of  application  for  renewal  or  extension 
of  a  charter  was  required,  whereby  the  life  of  a  charter  was 
limited  to  twenty  years,  with  power  to  revoke  and  to  alter  it 
resting  with  the  legislature,  provided  that  no  injustice  would 
be  done  thereby  to  the  stockholders.^  The  Whigs  and  the 
Anti-Masons  were  more  immediately  concerned  by  this 
legislation  than  were  the  Democrats,  for  they  controlled 
most  of  the  banks  within  the  state.* 

'jNovember  24,  1837.  The  vote  on  the  resolution  was  59  to  41,  with 
2  Democrats  in  the  affirmative  and  no  Whigs  in  the  negative;  Journal 
of  the  Constitutional  Convention^  vol.  i,  pp.  804,  ct  seq. 

■■'  The  debate  on  this  proposition  began  in  November,  1837,  and  con- 
tinued into  January,  1838.  The  contest  was  keen  on  January  12,  1838, 
when  the  l)alloting  took  place.  The  vote  which  saved  the  coalition  wa^ 
62  to  62;  5  of  the  Whigs  abandoned  their  party,  while  2  of  the  De- 
mocrats did  the  same  thing;  ibid.,  vol.  ii,  p.  254. 

3  The  vote  on  the  compromise  was  86,  of  which  26  were  Whig  and 
Anti-Masonic,  to  29;  Proceedings  and  Debates,  vol.  ix,  p.  218. 

*  The  Keystone  (Democratic),  September  7,  13.  1837,  maintained  that 
the  bankers  were  "  Federalists,"  i.  e.  Whigs  and  Anti-Masons.  From( 
an  analysis  of  the  politics  of  the  directors  and  of  the  employees  of 
more  than  half  of  the  banks  in  the  commonwealth,  it  concluded  that 
there  were  fourteen  politically  doubtful,  forty-six  Democrats,  and 
two  hundred  and  ninety  "  Federalists "  connected  with  these  institu- 
tions. 


285]  THE  PERIOD  OF  SUBORDINATION  39 

A  mild  contest  developed  over  the  question  of  the  future 
amendment  of  the  constitution.  A  proposed  article  of 
amendment  was  required  to  have  a  majority  in  two  succes- 
sive legislatures,  and  then  to  be  confirmed  by  the  electorate 
before  it  would  be  effective.  Efforts  to  have  the  majority 
in  the  legislature  raised  to  one  of  two  thirds  failed.^  By  a 
non-partisan  vote,  a  provision  prohibiting  the  submission 
of  a  particular  proposed  amendment  more  than  once 
in  any  five-year  period  was  inserted.^ 

The  Whigs  and  Anti-Masons,  though  they  had  a  small 
majority  in  the  convention,  had  not  been  able  to  control 
its  proceedings,  but  they  had  been  able  to  check  the  more 
radical  tendencies  of  their  opponents.  Incensed  at  the  re- 
fusal of  the  convention  to  insert  a  clause  in  the  constitution 
prohibiting  the  existence  of  oath-bound  societies  and  at  the 
provision  limiting  the  suffrage  to  "  white  "  males,  Stevens 
and  a  few  other  members  refused  to  sign  the  statement  that 
"  the  foregoing  is  the  amended  Constitution  of  Penn- 
sylvania, as  agreed  to  in  the  Convention."  "  The  Demo- 
cratic members  of  the  convention  signed  an  appeal  to  the 
electorate,  urging  support  of  the  amended  constitution.* 
As  an  organization,  neither  the  Whigs  nor  the  Anti-Masons 
took  action  for  or  against  the  amended  constitution;  but 
they  acted  as  individuals  in  condemning  it.  John  Sergeant, 
president  of   the  convention,   stated   in  an   open   letter  of 

^Journal  of  the  Constitutional  Convention,  vol.  ii.  p.  488.  The  first 
effort  to  require  a  two-third  majority  vote  failed  hy  44  to  60,  ibid., 
vol.  ii,  p.  495 ;  the  second  effort  failed  by  a  tie  vote  of  60  to  60,  2  Anti- 
Mason  farmers  voted  in  the  negative  and  2  Democratic  lawyers  in  the 
affirmative,  ibid.,  vol.  ii,  p.  544. 

'  The  vote  was  76,  composed  of  55  Anti-Masons  and  Whigs  and  o£ 
19  Democrats,  to  45,  all  Democratic  save  2  .\nti-Masonic  farmers,  ibid., 
vol.  ii,  p.  516. 

2  Harris,  Political  Conllict,  p.  41. 

♦  Pennsylvania  Intelligencer,  March  7,  1838. 


40  THE  WHIG  PARTY  IN  PENNSYLVANIA  [286 

September  10,  1838,  that  he  would  oppose  its  adoption  by 
his  vote,  and  that  the  same  course  would  be  pursued  by  the 
other  six  Whig  members  in  the  convention  from  Phila- 
delphia/ Anti-Alasonic  members  of  the  convention  from 
the  interior  of  the  state  came  out  in  opposition  to  rati- 
fication. »  Ex-Governor  John  A.  Schulze,  a  former  Demo- 
crat, declared  that  "the  work  of  the  good  men  of  the  Re- 
volution will  not  be  laid  aside,  to  take  up  and  adopt  the 
piece  of  patch-work  which  was  put  together  by  the  late 
generally  condemned  convention.  The  Germans  of  Penn- 
sylvania will  hold  fast  to  what  they  know  to  be  good."  ^ 
Opposition  was  aimed  at  the  provision  limiting  the  tenure 
of  the  judiciary  and  at  the  process  O'f  amendment.  The 
National  Gazette,  the  organ  of  the  Philadelphia  merchants 
and  financiers,  was  particularly  sharp  in  its  criticisms,  say- 
ing, 

If  radicalism  does  not  falter,  but  boldly  marches  on  as  it  has 
done,  we  may  all  live  to  see  every  principal  town  in  the  State 
with  its  Tammany  Hall,  where  the  divine  founder  of  the  Chris- 
tian dispensation  will  be  represented  as  having  been  a  living 
impostor,  or  at  best  an  allegory ;  and  where  the  tenets  of  pure 
agrarianism  will  be  asserted,  commanding  that  estates  be  cut  up 
and  parcelled  out,  according  to  the  clearest  definition  of  equal 
rights.  Mr.  Dallas's  doctrines  will  be  the  text-book  for  every 
future  attack  against  the  Constitution.  That  instrument, 
amended,  leaves  itself  open,  to  the  consummation  of  any  and 
every  political  atrocity  on  its  face,  and  when  the  public  mind 
is  the  better  inured  to  the  horrible  doctrines  of  the  Bradford 
County  Letter,  then  let  us  look  out  for  amendments.  Amend- 
ments !  Draughts  according  to  Frances  Wright.  Legislative 
speeches  on  heads  from  Skidmore  Parallels,  in  reports  of  com- 

^  United  States  Gazette,  September  21,  1838. 
» Chambersburg  Whig,  September  28,  1838. 
3  United  States  Gazette,  September  7,  1838,  letter  of  August  20,  1838. 


287]  THE  PERIOD  OF  SUBORDINATION  41 

mittees  between  the  tottering  condition  of  the  dupHcate  curse 
"  banks  and  Christianity."  Once  open  a  sluice  in  the  Con- 
stitution and  the  very  dregs  of  RadicaHsm  will  flow  through 
it,  and  the  embankment  will  be  washed  away.^ 

Despite  this  vigorous,  unorganized  opposition  the  constitu- 
tion, as  amended,  was  ratified  in  the  fall  election  of  1838, 
but  by  a  small  majority.- 

A  portion  of  the  Whigs  were  no  less  eager  than  Stevens 
to  prevent  their  party  from  cooperating  with  the  Anti- 
Masons.  They  claimed  that  the  defeat  of  Harrison  in  the 
presidential  election  of  1836  had  been  due  to  the  head- 
strong Stevens  and  his  followers,  who,  they  asserted,  had 
worked  openly  for  Van  Buren.^  Early  in  1837  an  effort 
w^as  made  to  form  an  independent  Whig  organization  in 
Chester  county,  where  the  Anti-Masons  were  particularly 
strong,  and  at  the  same  time  to  start  a  movement  for  an 
independent  state  organization;  but  nothing  came  of  this 
premature  movement.* 

The  Democrats,  who  in  1837  controlled  the  lower  house 
of  the  legislature,  investigated  the  granting  of  the  charter 
to  the  Bank  of  the  United  States.  They  could  find  no 
evidence  of  bribery,  but  they  concluded  that  the  bank  had 
violated  its  charter  in  several  instances.     The  investigating 

'  October  11,  1838. 

'  The  governor  proclaimed  that  the  constitution  had  been  ratified  by 
a  vote  of  113,971  to  112,759;  Pennsylvania  Archives,  series  iv,  vol.  vi. 
p.  440.  The  corrected  returns  should  be  119.228  for,  and  116,076 
against;  Senate  Journal,  1838-39,  vol.  i,  p.  1012. 

*  Pennsylvania  Intelligencer,  January  26,  February  13,  March  2,  1837. 

^  Ibid.,  February  13;  Pennsylvania  Telegraph,  March  7,  1837.  A  con- 
siderable portion  of  the  dissatisfaction  arose  over  the  question  of 
appointment  to  office.  The  Pennsylvania  Intelligencer,  February  2, 
1837,  claimed,  "  To  be  a  Ritner  man  would  not  do — to  be  a  liberal 
Anti-Mason  would  not  do — to  be  a  warm  Harrison  man  was  heresy, 
but  to  bow  the  knee  to  Stevens,  was  the  passport  to  office." 


42  THE  WHIG  PARTY  IN  PENNSYLVANIA  [288 

committee,  hoAvever,  made  no  recommendations  on  the 
ground  that  the  constitutional  convention  was  soon  to  as- 
semble and  that  there  the  question  of  the  banks  and  their 
charters  would  receive  proper  treatment.  The  minority 
of  the  committee  contended  tliat  if  the  charter  had  been 
violated,  such  violations  should  be  referred  to  the  legal 
authorities  of  the  state  for  action.^ 

During  this  session  of  the  legislature  an  improvement 
bill  received  the  veto  of  Governor  Ritner,  which  proved  to 
be  effective.  The  governor  regretted  that  he  was  forced 
to  withhold  "  the  Executive  approbation  from  an  act  which 
involves  no  question  of  constitutional  right."  He  claimed 
that  the  bill  would  squander  the  funds  of  the  state  among' 
privately  owned  companies  and  would  thus  delay  the  com- 
pletion of  the  state-owned  improvements.^  The  legislature, 
incensed  at  the  veto,  refused  to  make  provision  for  the  con- 
tinuation of  the  work  on  the  public  improvements.  The 
Democrats  declared  that  the  veto  message  displayed  "  the 
consummate  ignorance "  of  the  governor.^  Ritner's  sup- 
porters, on  the  other  hand,  claimed  that  nothing  saved  the 
commonwealth 

from  the  sack  and  pillage  by  the  plunder  party — rescued  it 
from  bankruptcy,  and  preserved  the  means  of  completing  the 
public  improvements  now  progressing,  but  the  bold  and  inde- 
pendent stand  taken  by  the  Executive.  .  .  .  The  State  would 
again,  as  it  did  a  few  years  ago,  truly  represent  the  public  goose, 
plucked  as  bare  as  an  acorn ;  and  the  people  would  have  the 
satisfaction  of  being  ground  down  with  taxes  ten-fold  more 
odious  than  before.* 

^Pennsylvania  Telegraph.  March  17,  April  3,  1837. 
'  House  Journal,  1836-37,  vol  i,  p.  1053. 

*  The  Keystone,  April  6,  1837. 

*  Pennsylvania  Telegraph,  April  5,  1837. 


ogn]  THE  PERIOD  OF  SUBORDINATION  43 

Financial  pressure,  due  to  the  approaching  panic  of  1837, 
was  causing  commercial  uneasiness  and  distress,  which,  it 
was  asserted,  the  veto  would  prevent  from  being  aggra- 
vated/ With  the  suspension  of  specie  payment  in  May, 
pressure  was  brought  to  bear  on  the  governor  to  have  him 
call  a  special  session  of  the  legislature.  In  a  proclamation 
of  May  20,  1837,  the  governor  called  on  the  banks  to  do 
everything  in  their  power  to  better  financial  conditions, 
warning  them  against  violating  their  charters  by  increasing 
the  volume  of  their  notes.  The  governor,  however,  re- 
fused to  call  an  extra  session,  declaring  that  the  financial 
evils  of  the  country  were  due  to  the  acts  of  the  federal 
authorities,  and  that  nothing,  which  the  state  could  do, 
would  lessen  the  distress."  This  proclamation  was  declared 
by  one  of  his  supporters  to  be  "  a  state  paper,  which  for 
manliness  of  tone  and  soundness  of  doctrine,  is  worthy  the 
independent  chief  magistrate  of  this  great  commonwealth."  ^ 

The  politicial  campaign  of  1837  was  listless  and  color- 
less. Appeals  were  made  to  elect  men  to  the  legislature 
who  would  support  the  financial  policy  of  the  governor.* 
Endorsement  of  the  veto  of  the  "  i\Iammoth  Improvement 
Bill  "  was  sought.  Van  Buren's  motto  was  declared  to 
l>e,  "  Gold  for  the  ofiice-holders — shinplasters  for  the 
people!  "  ^  The  election  left  the  upper  house  in  the  control 
of  the  Whigs  and  Anti-Masons,  but  the  Democrats  secured 
fifty-six  of  the  one  hundred  members  in  the  lower  house." 

'  United  States  Gazette,  April  12,  1837. 

*  Pcuiijylvania  Archives,  series  iv,  vol.  vi,  p.  346. 

3  Natioual  Gazette,  May  23,  1837;  cf.  also  ibid.,  May  24,  25,  26,  27,  29, 
30;  Pennsylvania  Telegraph,  May  23,  June  i,  8;  Pennsylvania  Intelli- 
gencer, May  22,  1837. 

*  National  Gazette,  October  5,  7,  10;  United  States  Gazette,  September 
20,  October  2;  Pennsylvania  Telegraph,  October  2,  1837. 

^Pennsylvania  Intelligencer,  October  5,  1837. 

'Pennsylvania  Telegraph,  October  19,  1837. 


44  THE  WHIG  PARTY  IN  PENNSYLVANIA  [290 

Despite  this  defeat,  the  Anti-Masons  in  the  Stevens  fac- 
tion were  determined  to  ignore  the  Whigs  and  to  continue 
their  independent  state  and  national  organization.  On  May 
22,  1837,  there  had  assembled  at  Harrisburg  a  state 
"  Democratic  Anti-Masonic  Convention."  It  called  a! 
national  convention  to  meet  at  Washington  on  the  second 
Monday  in  September  for  the  purpose  of  nominating  can- 
didates for  the  presidency  and  vice-presidency.^  On  Nov- 
ember 7,  1837,  the  state  committee,  which  had  been  ap- 
pointed at  this  convention,  called  a  state  convention  to* 
meet  on  March  5,  1838,  for  the  purpose  of  nominating  a 
gubernatorial  candidate.-  At  the  time  appointed  the  con- 
vention assembled,  and,  since  Stevens  and  Ritner  were  re- 
conciled, without  difficulty  nominated  the  governor  for  re- 
election.^ Assertions  that  the  W^higs  of  Philadelphia  were 
hostile  to  the  reelection  of  Ritner  were  vigorously  denied  by 
them.*  The  Whig  convention  of  Philadelphia  city  and 
county,  endorsing  the  nomination,  asserted  in  the  resolutions 
that 

his  policy  of  retaining  capital  within  the  state,  his  resistance  to 
schemes  of  improvident  expenditure,  and  dangerous  specula- 
tion, his  statesmanlike  admonition  in  an  hour  of  panic  neither  to 
fear  nor  to  hope  too  much,  his  spirited  defense  of  the  credit  of 
the  Commonwealth  when  assiduously  assailed  abroad  and  of  the 
high  character  of  her  merchants  when  calumniated  at  home, 
give  him  a  claim  to  which  Philadelphia  is  not  insensible.^ 

1  Pennsylvania  Telegraph,  May  27,   1837. 

*Ibid.,  November  15,  1837. 

*Ibid.,  March  9,  1838. 

*  United  States  Gazette,  February  10;  National  Gazette,  March  g,  15, 
22,  1838. 

''United  States  Gazette,  March  21,  1838. 


2Qi]  THE  PERIOD  OF  SUBORDINATION  45 

Ritner  was  endorsed  elsewhere  by  Whig  county  conven- 
tions, which  pledged  party  support  to  him.^ 

With  the  approach  of  the  election,  the  governor  deter- 
mined to  win  the  support  of  the  Whigs  through  a  more 
conciliatory  policy  than  heretofore  pursued.  Therefore, 
he  appointed  William  B.  Reed,  a  JMason  and  a  Whig  of 
Philadelphia,  attorney-general  of  the  state."  In  the  first 
years  of  his  administration  the  governor  had  distrusted 
Thaddeus  Stevens,  hitherto  the  well-nigh  undisputed  leader 
of  the  Anti-Masonic  forces  within  the  state.  The  governor 
intended  to  break  the  control  of  the  Gettysburg  ironmaster 
and  lawyer.  The  task  of  party  leadership  in  the  face  of 
the  opposition  of  Stevens  was,  however,  beyond  the  capacity 
of  the  *'  Pennsylvania  Dutch  "  farmer,  who  occupied  the 
highest  administrative  office  in  the  commonwealth.  The 
elections  in  the  fall  of  1836  had  been  disastrous  to  the  coali- 
tion, and  the  defeat  in  1837  was  a  bad  omen  for  Ritner's 
reelection.  Fear  of  defeat  made  the  governor  place  his 
political  fortunes  in  the  hands  of  Stevens.  In  May,  1838, 
Stevens  was  appointed  a  canal  commissioner,  and  at  the 
first  meeting  of  the  new  board  was  elected  its  president. 
Immediately  he  extended  the  policy  of  using  the  public 
works  as  the  basis  of  a  powerful  political  machine.  Ac- 
cording to  his  political  opponents,  the  *'  nigral  character  or 
religious  principles  "  of  bidders  for  contracts  on  the  public 
works  were  investigated  before  the  bid  was  considered.  "  A 
missionar}'  fund  "  was  collected  from  the  successful  bidders 
"  for  the  purpose  of  dift'using  useful  knowledge  among  the 
people."  Colonization  along  the  extensions  of  the  public 
works,  more  thorough  than  anything  previously  attempted, 

1  United  States  Gazette,  June  27,  1838. 
^Ibid.,  March  30,  1838. 


46  THE  WHIG  PARTY  IN  PENNSYLVANIA  [292 

was  resorted  to  in  order  to  carry  doubtful  districts  in  the 
coming  election.^ 

The  national  question  of  the  Sub-Treasury  Bill  was,  in 
the  meantime,  attracting  considerable  attention  in  the  state. 
A  resolution,  instructing  the  Senators  and  requesting  the 
Representatives  to  oppose  this  measure  and  to  "  vote  for 
such  a  mode  of  receiving,  keeping,  and  disbursing  the  public 
moneys,  as  will  separate,  as  far  as  practicable,  the  Banks  from 
the  Government,"  was  adopted."  This  resolution,  intro- 
duced into  the  legislature  by  a  Democrat,  was  supported  by 
a  number  of  them.''  The  two  Senators  from  Pennsylvania, 
mindful  of  their  pledge  to  obey  instructions,  voted  against 
the  bill.*  When  the  bill  was  defeated  in  the  House, 
the  Democratic  Representatives  from  Pennsylvania  sup- 
ported the  measure.^  Their  vote  gave  point  to  the  critic- 
isms directed  against  David  R.  Porter,  gubernatorial  can- 
didate of  the  reunited  Democratic  party. 

He  is  a  bitter  politician  of  the  Sub-Treasury  school,  with  just 
such  a  fringe  of  Conservative  pretension  on  his  Radical  gar- 
ments as  will  enable  dexterous  friends  and  anxious  relatives 
to  try  to  cajole  the  credulous  into  the  hope  that  he  is  not  in 
heart  as  destructive  as  might  be  inferred  from  his  acts  and 
expressed  opinions.  The  game  by  which  at  the  last  Governor's 
election  some  of  our  friends  were  imposed  upon  cannot  suc- 
ceed again.*' 

^  House  Journal,   1838-1839,  vol.  ii,  pt.  ii,  pp.   i,  ct  seq.,  pp.  372,  et 
seq.;  ibid.,  1840,  vol.  ii,  pp.  225,  et  scq. 

2  Session  Laws,  1837-38,  p.  674,  resolutions  of  February  ]6,  1838. 

'  National  Gazette,  February  20,  1838. 

Uhid.,  March  27,  1838. 

'  United  States  Gazette,  July  4,  1838,  for  an  analysis  of  the  vote. 

•National  Gazette,  March  8,   1838;   cf.  also   United  States  Gazette, 
September  25,  29,  1838. 


293]  'THE  PERIOD  OF  SUBORDINATION  47 

Due  to  the  opposition  of  the  Whigs  and  Anti-Masons, 
the  attempt  of  the  Democrats  to  pass  a  bill  requiring  the 
resumption  of  specie  pa}Tnent  within  the  state  by  a  fixed 
date  failed/  In  the  meantime,  the  financial  situation  was 
improving.  Representatives  of  the  banks  of  Philadelphia 
city  and  county  met  on  June  i,  1838,  and,  after  declaring 
that  the  repeal  of  the  specie  circular  by  Congress  made  re- 
simiption  possible,  suggested  August  i  as  the  date  for  full 
resumption  of  specie  payment."  The  defeat  of  the  Sub- 
Treasury  Bill  on  June  25  gave  the  governor  his  opportunity; 
so,  on  July  10,  he  issued  a  proclamation  requiring  the  re- 
sumption of  specie  payment  on  August  13.^  On  July  23 
delegates  from  banks  in  Massachusetts,  Rhode  Island,  Dela- 
ware, Virginia,  Connecticut,  Maryland,  Kentucky,  and 
Pennsylvania  were  represented  in  a  convention  at  Phila- 
delphia. They  selected  the  date  set  by  the  governor  for 
the  resumption  of  specie  payment.'*  When  the  banks  re- 
sumed on  the  day  agreed  upon,  it  was  declared  that  this 
might  "  be  considered  as  the  victory  of  the  people  over  the 
'  bars,  bolts,  and  strong  boxes  '  of  the  Sub-Treasuryites, 
and  as  the  crowning  sheaf  of  Whig  triumphs."  ^ 

^  Chambersburg  Whig,  March  9;  United  States  Gazette,  February  13, 
1838. 

*  National  Gazette,  June  4,  July  19,  1836. 

3  Ibid.,  July  14.  1838.  The  Democratic  Press,  July  17.  1838,  character- 
ized the  proclamation  as  "one  of  the  most  impudent  pieces  of  political 
humbug,  which  even  these  times,  so  pregnant  in  charlatanism,  have 
produced."  The  Upland  Union,  August  7,  1838.  said  the  proclamation 
proved  the  governor  to  be  "  the  poor  dupe  of  Biddle,  Stevens,  and 
Co." 

*  National  Gazette,  July  26,  1838;  the  editorial  comment  was,  "After 
all  the  Jesuitical  attacks  made  in  New  York  on  uur  banks,  the  grand 
difference  between  resumption  there  and  hore  is,  that  with  die  one 
party  it  was  forced  on  them  to  the  injury  of  their  debtors  and  the 
embarrassment  of  their  mercantile  community,  and  with  the  other  it 
comes  with  comparative  ease  some  few  months  later." 

^United  States  Gazette,  August  13.  1838. 


48  THE  WHIG  PARTY  IN  PENNSYLVANIA  [294 

Progress  in  bringing  the  two  factions  of  the  Democratic 
party  together  had  l.)een  made.  Ex-Governor  Wolf  was 
holding  a  lucrative  federal  office.  Henry  A.  Muhlenberg' 
had  gone  to  Europe  as  the  first  American  ambassador  to 
Austria.  With  the  leaders  thus  disposed  of,  their  followers 
were  willing  to  cooperate..  \Vhen  the  Democratic  con- 
vention assembled  at  Harrisburg  on  March  5,  1838,  with- 
out difficulty  it  nominated  David  R.  Porter,  of  Huntingdon 
county,  for  governor.  Porter  came  from  an  eminent 
family  of  Scotch-Irish  descent.  His  political  activities  had 
been  confined  to  the  holding  of  appointive  county  offices, 
to  two  terms  in  the  house  and  to  one  term  in  the  state 
senate.  At  one  time  he  had  been  engaged  in  the  produc- 
tion of  iron  but  the  panic  of  181 9  had  caused  his  firm  to 
fail.  As  the  result  of  his  experience,  he  was  distinctly 
favorable  to  the  principles  of  a  protective  tariff.  The  cam- 
paign for  governor  proved  to  be  one  of  the  most  virulent 
ever  waged  in  the  state.  Ritner,  nominated  by  the  Anti- 
Masons  for  reelection,  was  assured  of  the  support  of  the 
financial  interests  of  Philadelphia.  The  struggle  therefore 
developed  into  an  effort  to  secure  control  of  the  interior 
counties  of  the  state.  Vicious  attacks,  buttressed  with  af- 
fidavits, were  made  against  the  personal  morality  of  Porter.^ 
The  Democrats  sneered  at  Ritner  as  "  the  old  Dutch  Farmer 
Governor,"  and  this  sneering  was  used  by  the  Whigs  and  the 
Anti-Masons  in  an  endeavor  to  capture  the  vote  of  the 
"  Pennsylvania  Dutch."  "     Ex-Governor  Schulze.  who  had 

^Pennsylvania  Telegraphy  August  i,  September  5,  12,  19,  October  3, 
1838.  A  trial  for  libel  in  Lehigh  county  after  the  election,  in  which 
the  affidavit  makers  were  present  as  witnesses,  vindicated  Porter;  Penn- 
sylvania Reporter,  May  10,  1839. 

*  Pennsylvania  Intelligencer,  June  i,  8,  July  20,  September  21 ;  Harris- 
burg Chronicle,  May  30,  1838,  began  printing  at  the  head  of  its  editorial 
column,  "  Der  Joseph  Ritner  ist  der  Mann,  Dcr  unsern  Staat  regieren 
kann."    Die  Harrisburg  Morgenrdthe,  not  to  be  outdone,  carried  at  its 


2C)5]  THE  PERIOD  OF  SUBORDINATION  49 

I)cen  reelected  as  a  Democrat  in  1826  with  practically  no 
opposition,  opposed  Porter  because  he  was  supported  by 
those  favoring  Van  Buren/  The  true  issue,  the  Whigs  and 
the  Anti-Masons  declared,  was  Ritner  versus  Van  Buren- 
ism." 

It  is  not  surprising  that  this  campaign  of  bitter  denun- 
ciation and  vile  calumniation  should  have  its  aftermath  of 
disorder.  In  order  to  accomplish  the  election  of  C.  J. 
Ingersoll  in  the  third  congressional  district,  consisting  of  a 
portion  of  Philadelphia  county,  the  election  judges  by  a  vote 
of  ten  to  six  rejected  the  returns  from  the  entire  Incor- 
porated Northern  Liberties,  although  fraud  was  alleged  to 
have  been  committed  in  only  one  O'f  the  seven  wards.  By 
rejecting  the  returns  from  all  the  wards  of  the  Incorporated 
Northern  Liberties,  Ingersoll  was  assured  of  a  majority. 
The  Whig  judges,  incensed  at  this  procedure,  refused  to 
sign  the  returns  with  the  vote  of  the  Incorporated  Northern 
Liberties  omitted.  They  met  at  a  later  hour,  made  out  re- 
turns, which  were  based  on  the  districts  carried  by  the 
Whigs  and  which  showed  that  the  Whig  candidates  to  the 
state  senate  and  house  had  been  elected.^  The  Whig  re- 
head,  "  Fiir  Gouvernor  David  Rittenhaus  Porter,  der  praktische  Bauer 
von  Huntingdon  County."  The  Harrisburg  Chronicle^  July  23,  1838, 
declared,  "  The  Germans  are  decidedly  partial  to  Germans,  and  dis- 
like the  English  particularly  when  known  to  be  haughty,  and  aristo- 
cratic in  feeling." 

^Nationcl  Gazette,  September  5,  1838.  The  Democrats  later  claimed 
that  Schulze  had  been  influenced  by  the  handsome  award  for  damages 
he  had  received  from  the  board  of  canal  commissioners,  of  which  Ste- 
vens was  president;  House  Journal,  1838-39,  vol.  ii,  part  ii,  pp.  12,  376. 
Schulze  had,  however,  broken  with  the  Jackson  party  on  the  bank 
question  and  had  presided  at  a  bank  meeting  which  chose  delegates  to 
the  Harrisburg  convention  of  May  27,  1834;  Pennsylvania  Inquirer, 
April  9,  1834. 

*  United  States  Gazette,  June  i,  1838. 

*  House  Journal,  1838-39,  vol.  ii,  part  ii,  pp.  96,  et  seq. 


^O  THE  WHIG  PARTY  IN  PENNSYLVANIA  [296 

turns,  hastened  to  Harrisburg  by  special  courier,  were  filed 
in  the  office  of  the  secretary  of  the  commonwealth  before 
those  of  the  Democratic  judges.  Wlien  the  returns  of  the 
Whig  judges  were  delivered  to  the  secretar}^,  Thaddeusl 
Stevens  was  present/ 

Up  to  this  point  the  struggle  had  been  between  the  Whigs 
and  the  Democrats  of  Philadelphia  county.  The  course  of 
events,  now  directed  by  Stevens,  resolved  itself  into  a  con- 
test for  control  of  the  state.  If  the  returns  of  the  Whig 
judges  were  accepted,  Ritner  might  have  a  majority,  and 
thus  be  governor  for  another  term.  Furthennore,  the 
amended  constitution,  hated  by  Stevens,  might  be  defeated. 
In  addition,  altliough  the  senate  would  be  controlled  by  the 
Whigs  and  Anti-Masons  with  or  without  the  two  senators 
from  Philadelphia,  yet  the  eight  representatives  from  the 
county  were  needed  to  prevent  the  Democrats  from  having 
a  majority  in  the  house.  These  eight  representatives  were 
also  needed  in  the  joint  session  of  the  two  houses  when  they 
met  for  the  election  of  a  state  treasurer  and  a  United  States 
Senator. 

Thomas  H.  Burrowes,  secretary  of  the  commonwealth, 
was  also  chairman  of  the  "  State  Committee  of  Correspon- 
dence and  Vigilance,"  which  was  responsible  for  the  con- 
duct of  the  governor's  campaign.  Over  his  signature,  on 
October  15,  there  was  issued  an  address  to  "  The  Friends 
of  Joseph  Ritner."  Intimating  that  extensive  frauds  had 
been  committed  in  the  election,  he  urged  an  immediate  in- 
vestigation, and  "  until  this  investigation  is  fully  made  and 
fully  determined,  let  us  treat  the  election  of  the  ninth  inst. 
as  if  we  had  not  been  defeated  and  in  that  attitude  abide  the 
result."  *     Following    the    publication    of    this    pronuncia- 

1  House  Journal,  1838-39,  vol.  ii,  part  ii,  pp.  143-44. 
'  Niks'  Register,  vol.  Iv,  p.  205. 


2Q7]  THE  PERIOD  OF  SUBORDINATION  51 

mento,  denunciations  and  threats  were  loudly  and  violently 
made  by  both  sides.  Great  fears  were  entertained  by  the 
Democrats  of  the  determination  of  their  opponents  to  de- 
prive them  of  their  victory/ 

When  the  legislature  assembled  on  December  4,  the  situa- 
tion was  tense.  On  the  basis  of  either  the  Whig  or  Demo- 
cratic returns,  Ritner  was  defeated  and  the  amended  con- 
stitution adopted.  The  struggle,  therefore,  was  resolved 
into  one  for  control  of  the  legislature.  Large  numbers  of 
the  partisans  of  both  sides  crowded  to  Harrisburg.  In  the 
lower  house,  which  organized  in  the  morning,  two  bodies 
each  claiming  to  be  legal  were  formed.  The  Cunningham 
house,  named  after  its  speaker,  was  composed  of  fifty-two 
Whigs  and  Anti-Masons,  including  the  eight  contestants 
from  Philadelphia.  The  Hopkins  house  had  fifty-six  mem- 
bers, including  the  eight  from  Philadelphia.  Neither 
house  had  uncontested  seats  sufficient  to  constitute  a 
majority  of  the  full  house.  The  Democrats  feared  that 
the  Cunningham  house  might  be  recognized  by  the  Whi^ 
senate,  which  would  make  it  the  legal  body.  Therefore, 
when,  in  the  afternoon,  the  senate  proceeded  to  organize 
itself,  the  Democrats  disturbed  its  sessions.  Their  threats 
of  violence  caused  Charles  B.  Penrose,  speaker  of  the 
senate,  Thomas  H.  Burrowes,  and  Thaddeus  Stevens,  the 
last  two  being  present  as  spectators,  to  make  their  escape 
through  a  window  in  a  small  room  in  the  rear  of  the 
speaker's  desk.-     The  three  men  made  their  way  to  the 

*  Gettysburg  Compiler,  quoted  in  Pennsylvania  Reporter,  November 
9,  1838.  The  fears  of  the  Democrats  were  well-founded,  as  Stevens 
later  acknowledged  that  his  group  practically  intended  to  do  what  the 
Democrats  claimed  they  intended  to  do;  Senate  Journal,  1838-39.  vol. 
ii,  pp.  801-2,  813-15. 

*  Public  Ledger,  United  States  Gazette,  National  Gazette,  Pennsylva- 
nian,  December  6,  7,  1838.  Stevens'  overdrawn  account  of  the  aflfain 
is  in  the  Pennsylvania  Telegraph,  January  17,  1830.  and  in  the  Scnatr 


22  THE  WHIG  PARTY  IN  PENNSYLVANIA  [298 

residence  of  tlie  g-ovemor,  who  was  formally  notified  by 
Penrose  of  the  disturbance  in  the  senate  chamber/  A  proc- 
lamation was  issued,  which,  amongst  other  things,  called 
on  the  militia  to  hold  itself  "  in  instant  readiness  to  repair 
to  the  seat  of  government."  ' 

It  is  not  necessary  to  go  into  the  details  of  the  disorder 
at  the  capital,  but  this  disorder  led  the  governor  to  call  out 
the  militia  after  he  had  been  refused  assistance  by  Captain 
E.  V.  Sumner,  in  command  of  the  federal  troops  at  Carlisle, 
who  claimed  that  the  disturbance  appeared  "  to  proceed 
from  political  differences  alone."  ^  The  order  of  Major- 
General  Robert  Patterson  of  the  Pennsylvania  militia  that 
the  troops  shoidd  ''  assemble  in  winter  uniform,  with  knap- 
sacks, provided  with  thirteen  rounds  of  buckshot  cartridges 
and  seventeen  rounds  of  ball  cartridges  "  gave  the  entire 
episode  the  sobriquet  of  "  The  Buckshot  War."  ^  With 
the  arrival  of  the  troops  on  the  ninth  of  December,  the 
senate  resumed  its  sessions.  The  question  of  the  recogni- 
tion of  one  or  the  other  of  the  twO'  houses  pressed  for  at- 
tention. After  the  Hopkins  house  had  once  been  refused 
recognition  by  the  senate,  it  received  it  on  December  25, 
after  three  members  of  the  Cunningham  house  had  gone 
over  to  the  rival  organization,  which  then  had  a  majority  of 
the  full  house  consisting  of  undisputed  seats. ^  For  all  prac- 

Jonrual,  1838-1839,  vol.  ii,  pp.  799-802.  For  the  details  of  the  disorder 
at  Harrisburg  see,  McCarthy,  op.  cit.,  pp.  495-501 ;  McMaster,  History 
of  the  People  of  the  United  States,  vol.  vi,  pp.  501-508. 

'  The  formal  notification  by  Penrose  is  dated  December  4,  but  internal 
evidence  indicates  that  it  was  not  written  until  the  following  day; 
Niles'  Register,  vol.  Iv,  p.  295. 

*  Ibid.,  vol.  Iv,  p.  240. 

*  GDrrespondence  in  ibid.,  vol.  Iv,  pp.  295-97. 

*  The  various  orders  are  found  in  House  Journal,  1838-39,  vol.  ii, 
part  ii,  pp.  245,  et  seq. 

^Senate  Journal,  1838-39,  vol.  i,  pp.  123,  149. 


299]  '^^^  PERIOD  OF  SUBORDINATION 


DO 


tical  purposes  this  ended  the  dispute  for  control  of  the 
state/ 

The  contest  had  its  judicial  phase.  A  number  of  the  Dem- 
ocrats had  been  arrested  and  indicted  for  rioting-,  con- 
spiracy, and  treason.  On  April  i8,  1839,  these  cases  were 
on  trial,  but  were  withdrawn  because  of  defective  indict- 
ments.' When  they  came  up  again  in  the  August  term, 
the  president  judge,  James  M.  Porter,  brother  of  the  gov- 
ernor, quashed  the  proceedings  because  of  a  defect  in  form.^ 

When  the  Twenty-sixth  Congress  assembled  in  December 
1839,  the  last  phase  of  the  struggle  was  disposed  of. 
Charles  Naylor,  relying  on  the  proclamation  of  election 
issued  on  October  31,  1838,  which  was  based  on  the  Whig 
returns,  was  present  as  the  Whig  claimant.  C.  J.  Ingersoll, 
armed  with  a  proclamation  of  election,  signed  by  Governor 
Porter  on  November  25,  1839,  was  also  claiming  the  seat. 
The  struggle  for  control  of  the  House  was  sharp  and  keen, 
as  the  two  parties  were  evenly  balanced.  In  the  preliminary 
organization,  the  claim  of  Naylor  to  the  seat  was  recognized 
as  valid.  Later  he  was  given  an  undisputed  title  to  the 
seat.* 

'  Stevens  for  a  long  time  refused  to  join  the  house.  On  May  4.  1839, 
he  wrote,  "I  have  (wnth  great  reluctance)  determined  to  go  into  that 
den  of  thieves — the  '  Hopkins  House.' "  Letter  to  Joseph  Wallace,  Wm. 
McPherson  Mss.  When  he  appeared  in  order  to  be  sworn  in,  the 
house  decided  that  he  had  resigned  and  it  ordered  a  new  election,  which 
resulted  in  Stevens'  favor.  House  Journal,  1838-39,  vol.  i,  pp. 
922,  et  seq;  National  Gazette,  May  11,  14,  18,  28;  Harrisburg  Chronicle, 
June  19,  29,  1839;  Harris,  Political  Conflict,  pp.  59,  ct  seq. 

*  Pennsylvania  Reporter,  April  19,  1839;  Harris,  op.  cit.,  p.  63. 

*  Pennsylvania  Reporter,  August  30;  National  Gazette,  August  24,  29, 
31,  September  7,  1839. 

*  National  Gazette,  December  5,  7,  14,  17,  19,  1839;  House  Journal. 
26th  Cong.  1st  sess,  p.  1300;  Reports  of  the  House  of  Representatives, 
26th  Cong.,  1st  sess.,  no.  588.  For  the  challenging  of  Naylor  to  a  duel  by 
Charles  Ingersoll,  son  of  C.  J.  Ingersoll,  because  of  his  statements  in 


^4  THE  WHIG  PARTY  IN  PENNSYLVANIA  [300 

The  political  effects  of  this  struggle  were  long  enduring. 
The  consistent  efforts,  made:  "by  the  Whigs  and  Anti- 
Masons  to  have  the  Democrats  appear  as  rebels,  had  cul- 
minated in  calling  out  the  militia  to  quell  "  the  insurrec- 
tion." The  outcome  of  these  eft'orts  had,  however,  beeni 
the  reverse  of  what  had  been  hoped  for  by  Stevens  and  his 
followers,  for  their  candidates  had  not  been  seated.  Thisi 
gave  point  to  the  contention  of  the  Democrats  that  the  mili- 
tia had  been  called  out  to  seat  the  \\h.\.g  claimants  at  the 
point  of  the  bayonet,  but  that  only  the  stout  and  determined 
resistance  of  the  Democrats,  fortunately  without  bloodshed, 
had  prevented  the  accomplishing  of  this  unholy  purpose. 
Thus  it  was  quite  possible  to  condemn  the  coalition  as  the 
party  of  disorder  and  violence,  and  the  disappearance  of 
the  Anti-Masonic  member  of  the  coalition  did  not  free  the 
Whigs  from  odium.  The  immediate  effect  of  the  struggle 
on  the  Democrats  was  to  make  them  more  solidly  united 
than  they  had  been  previously.^  The  effect  on  the  coali- 
tion was  that  the  ^^^higs  were  now  no  longer  willing  to  en- 
trust their  political  fortunes  to  the  direction  of  the  remnant 
of  the  Anti-Masonic  party.  In  particular  they  shunned  the 
extremist  Stevens,  who  never  rose  to  great  influence  in  the 

the  press  during  the  congressional  hearing,  and  for  the  fight  between 
Colonel  Pleasonton,  bearer  of  the  challenge,  and  Naylor,  and  for  the 
subsequent  binding  of  all,  by  the  police,  to  keep  the  peace,  see  National 
Gazette,  March  21,  24,  26,  1840. 

^  There  is  much  truth  to  the  comment  of  John  K.  Kane,  a  leading 
Democrat  of  Philadelphia,  who  on  December  27,  1838,  wrote  Lewis  S. 
Coryell.  "  Whiggery  is  I  presume  an  inmate  of  the  tomb  of  the  Capuletsi 
from  this  time  forward  in  Pennsylvania.  It  has  become  ridiculous,  a 
worse  epithet  for  a  party  even  than  wicked^  for  men  are  more  cheer- 
fully accounted  knaves  than  fools.  Our  party  has  been  concentratedv 
harmonized,  confirmed.  We  shall  hear  no  more  of  our  old  domestic 
squabbles,  and  more  than  one  excellent  man  too  long  estranged  from 
his  fellows,  has  resumed  liis  natural  position  among  our  counsellors 
and  guards." — Coryell  Papers,  voL  iii,  p.  80. 


3oi]  THE  PERIOD  OF  SUBORDINATION  55 

Whig  party.  The  Whigs  did  not  hesitate  to  coalesce  with 
the  Anti-Masons,  but  control  from  this  time  rested  in  the 
hands  of  the  Whigs.  The  result  of  the  adoption  of  this 
j>olicy  was  the  creation  of  an  independent  Whig  state  organ- 
ization and  the  ultimate  absorption  of  the  Anti-Masonic 
party. 


CHAPTER  II 

Years  of  Triumph  and  Tribulation 

1 839- 1 843. 

Even  before  the  debacle  of  the  bizarre  "  Buckshot 
War,"  the  Whigs  had  become  weary  of  Anti-Masonic  lead- 
ership. Prior  to  the  election  of  1838  the  Whigs  in  Chester 
county  had  resented  the  treatment  received  from  the  Anti- 
Masons  in  the  distribution  of  the  offices.  Their  mass  meet- 
ing endorsed  Ritner  for  governor,  declared  for  Clay  as  the 
next  presidential  candidate,  and  determined  tO'  support  the 
local  coalition  nominees  for  this  election.  The  Whigs  were, 
however,  resolved 

to  loose  the  chains  which  bind  us  to  the  fortunes  of  anti- 
masonry,  asserting  our  rights  as  citizens  and  organizing  as  a 
political  party.  ...  It  is  too  plain  that  the  Whigs  are  used  to 
give  effect  to  principles  which  they  do  not  recognize.  If  it 
could  be  conceded  that  there  was,  in  truth,  no  difference  in 
principle  between  the  Whigs  and  Anti-Masons,  then  indeed  we 
might  with  propriety  rally  under  the  Anti-Masonic  banner.^ 

Circumstances,  however,  forbade  the  immediate  execution 
of  the  desire  for  independent  organization. 

The  Anti-Masons  started  their  presidential  campaign  of 
1840  early.  On  May  22,  1837,  the  state  Anti-Masonic 
convention  called  a  national  convention  to  meet  at  Washing- 
ton in  September  of  the  same  year  to  make  nominations 
for  the  presidency  and  vice-presidency."     An  address  of 

1  United  States  Gazette,  September  17,  1838. 
*  Pennsylvania  Telegraph,  May  27,  1837. 

56  [302 


303]  YEARS  OF  TRIUMPH  AND  TRIBULATION  57 

the  state  convention  urged  the  Anti-Masons  of  other  states 
■to  send  delegates/  When  the  convention  assembled,  itj 
was  poorly  attended;  twenty-seven  of  the  fifty-three  dele- 
gates came  from  Pennsylvania  and  the  balance  came  from 
Ohio,  New  York,  Massachusets,  and  Rhode  Island.  On 
account  of  the  poor  attendance  it  was  decided  not  to  make 
nominations,  but  to  call  another  convention  to  meet  at 
Philadelphia  in  November,  1838,  with  the  stipulation  that 
no  one  from  an  unrepresented  state  would  be  nominated.' 
When  this  nominating  convention  assembled  on  November 
13,  1838,  delegates  from  six  states  were  in  attendance. 
William  H.  Harrison  and  Daniel  Webster  were  unanimously 
nominated.^  A  small  portion  of  the  Whig  press  gave  these 
nominations  a  half-hearted  endorsement.*  The  Clay  sup- 
porters recommended  that  no  action  be  taken  by  the  Whigs, 
even  as  individuals,  until  after  the  Whig  national  conven- 
tion had  acted.  The  editor  of  the  United  States  Gazette,  a 
Mason,  felt  that  the  "  Whigs  will  no  longer  consent  to  be 
mere  hewers  of  wood  and  drawers  of  water  for  a  party 
that  turns  all  victories  to  its  own  advantage,  and  dictates 
with  arrogance  to  those  who  number  twenty  in  its  ranks 
to  one  which  the  other  can  muster."  ^  Harrison  in  acknow- 
ledging the  notification  of  his  nomination  stated  what  he 
considered   to  be   the   principles   of   his   candidacy.*^     His 

^Pennsylvania  Telegraph,  June  20,  1837. 

*  Ibid.,  September  21,  1837. 

*  National  Gazette,  November  14,  1838.  After  the  nomination  of  Har- 
rison and  Tyler  by  the  Whigs,  Webster  withdrew  his  name. 

*Ibid.,  November  15,  17,  1838. 

*  United  States  Gazette,  November  30,  1838. 

*  Niles'  Register,  vol.  Iv,  p.  360.  Webster  thought  tliat  the  only 
chance  of  success  for  the  Whigs,  and  that  not  a  very  good  one,  was 
in  supporting  Harrison;  The  Writings  and  Speeches  of  Daniel  Webster, 
vol.    xviii,   p.   45.     Qay   claimed   that   "  The    mock   nomination   of    the 


^8  THE  WHIG  PARTY  IN  PENNSYLVANIA  [304 

nomination  indicated  that  he.  and  he  alone,  would  be  accept- 
able to  the  Pennsylvania  Anti-Masons,  who  had  controlled 
the  ''  national  "  convention. 

A  caucus  of  the  Whig  members  of  Congress  had  issued 
a  call  for  a  national  nominating  convention  of  Whigs  to 
meet  in  Harrisburg  in  December,  1839.^  The  call  for  this 
convention  met  with  a  hearty  response  from  those  who 
were  agitating  for  an  independent  Whig  organization. 
Plans  were  made  to  perfect  a  state  organization  of  the 
Whigs  before  the  assembling  of  the  national  convention.^ 
When  the  Whigs  of  Philadelphia  city  and  county  met  in 
convention  on  November  30,  1838,  they  urged  a  "  thorough 
Whig  organization  throughout  this  commonwealth  "  and 
recommended  that  a  state  convention  assemble  at  Cham- 
bersburg  on  June  13,  1839.^  When  this  convention  as- 
sembled, it  was  soon  evident  that  it  was  under  the  control 
of  the  supporters  of  Henry  Clay.  They  advised  the  ubiqui- 
tous Anti-Masons  to  depart  and  perfect  their  own  organ- 
ization. The  latter,  seventeen  in  number,  then  withdrew^ 
and  issued  a  call  for  a  convention  of  all  anti-Van  Buren 
men  to  meet  at  Harrisburg  on  September  4,  1839.*  The 
convention  at  Chambersburg  claimed  that  the  seceders  had 
withdrawn  because  of  a  difference  over  candidates  for  the 
presidency.  It  stated  that  the  delegates  had  been  selected 
"  to  organize  the  Whig  party  of  the  state  "  which  they  had 
done.     It  asserted  that  the  seceders,  on  the  other  hand,  had 

Anti-Masons  has  fallen  still-born,  and  has  produced  no  material  ef- 
fect even  in  the  Anti-Masonic  portion  of  the  state"'  of  New  York; 
Colton  (editor),  The  Private  Corresf^oi'dcnce  of  Henry  Cloy,  p.  432. 

^Pennsylvania  Intelligencer,  May  4,  1838,  quoting  the  Boston  Atlas. 

'  National  Gazette,  February  22,  November  38,  1838. 

*  United  States  Gazette,  December  i,  1838. 

*  National  Gazette,  June  18,  20,  27,  1839;  in  some  places  the  calls  for 
the   preliminary   conventions    had   been    to    Clay  men;    Chambersburg* 

Whig,  June  28,  1839. 


305]  YEARS  OF  TRIUMPH  AND  TRIBULATION  59 

desired  to  prevent  this  organization  by  having  the  conven- 
tion adjourn  sine  die,  without  declaring  a  preference  for 
any  one  for  the  presidency,  and  by  having  it  issue  a  call  for 
an  anti-Van  Buren  convention  for  that  special  purpose/ 

With  a  break  in  the  opposition  to  Van  Buren,  the  state 
would  be  carried  by  the  Democrats.  To  prevent  this,  the 
anti-Van  Buren  members  of  the  legislature,  led  by  Charles 
B.  Penrose,  speaker  of  tlie  senate  and  one  of  the  seceders 
from  the  Chambersburg  convention,  endorsed  the  call  for  a 
convention  to  meet  at  Harrisburg  on  September  4,  1839. 
The  call  stated  that  "  the  interests  of  the  country  impera- 
tively require  that  the  two  branches  of  the  anti-Van  Buren 
or  Democratic  Whig  party  in  this  state  should  be  united  to 
reestablish  the  ascendancy  of  the  Constitution."  Nothing 
was  to  be  done  to  "  interfere  in  any  way  with  the  distinct 
or  independent  organization  of  either  of  the  two  great 
divisions  "  into  which  the  friends  of  the  constitution  were 
divided."  This  movement  was  endorsed  in  various  counties 
through  "  Union  and  Harmony "  conventions.^  In  the 
meantime,  the  supporters  of  Harrison  were  stressing  the 
statement  that  he  was  the  only  candidate  who  could  secure 
the  Anti-Masonic  vote,  thereby  preventing  the  Democrats 
from  carrying  the  state.*  When  the  state  Harrisburg  conven- 
tion met  on  September  4,  it  was  composed  of  Harrison  men. 
Clay  was  lauded  as  a  great  leader,  but  it  was  asserted  tliat 
Harrison  alone  would  satisfy  all  the  political  elements  in 
the  state  opposed  to  the  Democrats.^     The  same  cry  was 

*  Address  in  the  National  Gazette,  August  3,  1839. 

*  Harrisburg  Chronicle,  June  26,  1839. 

*  Chambersburg  Whig,  August  2,  23;  National  Gazette,  July  ir,  Sep- 
tember 7,  10,  1839. 

*  National    Gazette,    April    25;    Chambersburg    Whig,    June    14,    -'8. 
August  2,  23.  1839. 

^  Niks'  Register,  vol.  Ivii,  p.  46;  address  in  ibid.,  vol.  Ivii,  p.  190. 


6o  THE  WHIG  PARTY  IN  PENNSYLVANIA  [306 

eagerly  caught  up  in  Ohio  and  Indiana,  where  Anti-Masonry 
had  made  some  progress/ 

When  the  \Vhig  national  convention  assembled  on  De- 
cember 4,  1839,  at  Harrisburg,  Pennsylvania  was  repre- 
sented by  delegates  from  both  of  the  state  conventions. 
The  compromise  which  was  effected  gave  control  of  the 
state  delegation  to  the  Anti-Masons.  Before  the  assem- 
bling of  the  convention,  Penrose,  who  was  working  with 
the  Anti-Masons  in  favoring  Harrison,  assured  political 
leaders  in  other  states  that  no  one  else  could  carry  Pennsyl- 
vania." On  the  floor  of  the  convention  Penrose  was  the 
capable  and  active  leader  of  the  Harrison  men.  Sprague 
of  Massachusetts  proposed  a  cumbersome  method  of  ballot- 
ing and  reporting  through  committees.  On  the  motion  of 
Penrose  the  plan  after  being  amended  to  provide  for  the 
unit  rule  of  voting  the  state  delegations  was  adopted.  The 
scheme  gave  ample  opportunity  to  exert  pressure  on  the 
delegates.  The  result  of  the  manipulation  of  the  delega- 
tions was  the  nomination  of  William  H.  Harrison  and  John 
Tyler,  without  the  formulation  of  any  political  principlei.' 
The  result,  all  the  Anti-Masons  had  hoped  for,  had  been 
attained  largely  through  the  clever  leadership  of  Penrose.* 

'Greeley,  Recollections  of  a  Busy  Life,  p.  130;  Weed,  Autobiography 
and  Memoirs,  vol.  i,  p.  480. 

*  Seward,  Life  of  Seward,  vol.  i,  p.  447. 

exiles'  Register,  vol.  Ivii,  pp.  248-252,  for  the  proceedings  of  the  con- 
vention; Stanwood,  History  of  the  Presidency,  vol.  i,  p.  194. 

*  Sargent,  Public  Men  and  Events,  vol.  ii,  pp.  75-96.  The  Anti-Masons 
"were  adroit  enough  to  get  a  majority  of  the  Pennsylvania  delegation 
of  the  wolf-in-sheep's-clothing  stripe,  and  thus  cast  the  vote  of  the 
state  for  Harrison;"  ibid.,  p.  92.  The  method  of  voting  he  charac- 
terized as  "  an  ingenious  contrivance — unknown  till  then  to  the  most 
skillful  political  engineers,  and  never  resorted  to  since;"  ibid.,  p.  90. 
Penrose  is  called  "  the  chief  engineer  " ;  ibid.,  p.  75.  Weed  has  claimed 
great  credit  for  himself  in  securing  the  nomination  of  Harrison;  Weed^ 
Autobiography  and  Memoirs,  vol.  i,  p.  480,  vol.  ii,  p.  76.    For  an  ac- 


307]  YEARS  OF  TRIUMPH  AND  TRIBULATION  61 

In  the  formation  of  the  electoral  ticket,  which  at  this  time 
was  considered  of  great  importance,  the  Anti-Masons  of 
the  state  made  another  gain.  Twenty-three  of  the  thirty 
electoral  candidates,  as  eventually  selected  through  the 
cotmty  conventions,  had  been  named  in  May  by  the  Anti- 
Masons/ 

In  the  meantime,  the  election  of  1839,  in  which  the  effect 
of  the  "  Buckshot  War  "  was  felt,  had  resulted  favorably 
for  the  Democrats.  In  Philadelphia  county,  where  the  dis- 
pute had  originated,  the  Democratic  candidates  were  trium- 
phantly elected  by  a  large  majority.-  The  same  chastise- 
ment of  the  Whigs  and  Anti-Masons  was  administered  in 
the  rest  of  the  state,  with  the  result  that  the  legislature  was 
fully  given  into  the  control  of  their  opponents.^  Conse- 
quently during  the  sessions  of  the  legislature  the  Whigs  and 
.Ajiti-I\Iasons  could  do  little  save  try  to  block  some  of  the 
measures  of  their  opponents  and  criticize  those  which  were 
adopted.* 

When  the  term  of  Governor  Ritner  expired  in  January 
1839,  the  treasury  of  the  state  was  empty.  It  had  been 
the  policy  cf  the  coalition  to  avoid  taxation.     The  bonuses 

count  of  the  "  triangular  correspondence "  in  New  York,  cf.  Wise, 
Seven  Decades  of  the  Union,  pp.  165,  ct  seq.  For  the  activities  of 
Thaddeus  Stevens,  who  was  not  a  delegate,  in  preventing  the  nomina- 
tion of  Scott,  cf.  McClure,  Our  Presidents  and  How  We  Make  Them 
p.  68. 

1  The  electoral  tickets  can  be  found  in  Chainbersburg  Whig,  June 
14,  1839,  and  in  the  United  States  Gacette,  September  18,  1840.  For 
the  method  of  forming  the  electoral  ticket  see  National  Gazette,  Feb- 
ruary 25;  Daily  Telegraph,  January  29;  United  States  Gazette,  .\pril 
16,  1840. 

*  National  Gazette,  October  15,  1839. 

'Ibid.,  October  22,  1839,  credits  the  Democrats  with  sixty-nine  of  the 
one  hundred  members  in  the  lower  house. 

*  United  States  Gazette,  January  3,  February  5,  .\pril  3,  18,  20,  June 
I,  3,  4,  10;  Daily  Telegraph.  February  13,  March  4,  .\pril  7;  National 
Gazette,  January  14.  18,  March  12,  1840. 


62  THE  WHIG  PARTY  IN  PENNSYLVANIA  [308 

received  from  the  Bank  of  the  United  States  and  from  the 
Girard  Bank  and  the  share  of  the  state  in  the  surplus  funds 
of  the  federal  government  had  been  expended  on  internal 
improvements  and  for  current  expenses.  The  incoming" 
administration  of  Porter  made  no  immediate  effort  to  settle 
the  financial  problem;  it  resorted  to  borrowing  to  procure 
funds  for  the  needs  of  the  state/  The  embarrassment  of 
the  Bank  of  the  United  States  in  1839  led  the  governor,  in 
his  message  of  1840,  to  recommend  far-reaching  legislation 
to  control  the  banks,  to  free  the  state  from  its  dependence 
on  borrowing  by  returning  to  some  system  of  taxation  to 
procure  fmids  for  current  expenses,  and  to  dispose  of  the 
public  works."  On  his  recommendation  an  act  was  passed 
which  levied  a  tax  on  bank  stocks,  according  to  the  dividend 
which  was  declared,  on  mortgages,  on  judgment  notes,  on 
household  furniture  above  a  certain  value,  on  pleasure  car- 
riages, on  watches,  and  finally  a  one  per  cent  tax  was  placed 
on  all  salaries  received  from  the  commonwealth."  Drastic 
as  this  measure  seemed  at  the  time,  it  was  entirely  inade- 
quate and  loans  were  resorted  to  even  in  the  year  of  the 
passage  of  the  act.*     Although  the  amount  of  money  col- 

'  Worthington,  Finances  of  Pennsylvania,  p.  46. 

*  Pennsylvania  Archives,  series  iv,  vol.  vi,  pp.  600,  et  seq. 

*  Session  Laws,  1840,  p.  612;  Act  of  June  11,  1840.  The  bill  passed 
the  house  by  47  to  41,  and  the  senate  by  17  to  15;  House  Journal,  1840, 
vol.  i,  p.  1230;  Senate  Journal,  1840,  vol.  i,  p.  817. 

*  Worthington,  op.  cit.,  p.  54.  For  the  amounts  of  money  raised  from 
1832  to  1840,  cf.  supra,  p.  28n.  The  following  amoimts  were  raised 
after  the  resort  to  taxation;  House  Journal,  1844,  vol.  ii,  p.  420. 

Tax  on  real  Receipts  from 
and  all 

personal  other 

property  sources 

1841  $35,224-69  $363,920.52 

1842  487,536.56  355,276.63 

'843 554,921.26  250,989.62 


309]  YEARS  OF  TRIUMPH  AND  TRIBULATION  63 

lected  was  inadequate,  yet  a  return  to  taxation  had  been  ef- 
fected— a  policy  never  again  to  be  abandoned.  By  subse- 
quent increases  in  the  rates,  the  financial  rehabilitation  of 
the  state  was  ultimately  secured. 

At  the  close  of  the  sessions  of  the  legislature  the  Whig 
and  Anti-]\Iasonic  members,  or  as  they  chose  to  call  them- 
selves "  The  Democratic  Republican  members  of  the  Legis- 
lature,'' issued  an  address  in  which  they  criticized  the  policy 
of  their  opponents,  on  whom  they  tried  to  fasten  the  op- 
probrious name  of  "  Federalists."  Their  opponents,  they 
declared,  were  > 

breathing  nothing  but  destruction  to  the  banking  and  credit 
systems  of  the  Commonwealth.  .  .  .  Men  of  no  practical  ex- 
perience in  the  affairs  of  life — beardless  enthusiasts,  full  of 
crude  and  chimerical  notions  of  reform,  and  with  no  better 
idea  of  a  banking  institution  than  such  as  might  be  picked  up 
in  the  various  but  unmeaning  vocabulary  of  a  village  newspaper 
— tyros  in  political  science  whose  whole  knowledge  was  confined 
to  the  noisy  inanities  of  a  town  meeting — such  were  the  master 
spirits  whom  the  fermentation  of  the  political  cauldron,  and 
the  chances  and  changes  of  political  life  had  thrown  upon  the 
surface,  and  invested  with  the  power  of  legislating  upon  the 
rights  and  property  of  their  fellowmen. 

The  governor  had  interv^ened.  they  claimed,  in  the  struggle 
over  the  banks  and  with  him  they  had  coo{>erated.  The 
result  was  the  adoption  of  resolutions  whereby  the  suspen- 
sion o^  specie  payment,  which  had  begim  on  October  9, 
1839,  was  to  be  legal  until  January  15,  1841,  but  the  sus- 
pending banks  were  to  be  called  on  for  a  loan  to  the  state. 
They,  as  usual,  charged  extravagance  and  corruption  in  the 
administration  of  the  public  works.  "  Some  potent  and 
mysterious  influence  "  was  brought  to  bear  on  the  question 
with  the  result  that  it  "  was  supported  by  the  natural  enemieg 


54  THE  WHIG  PARTY  IN  PENNSYLVANIA  [310 

of  the  system  and  opposed  by  many  of  its  warmest  friends." 
The  value  of  the  state  stocks  had  decreased.  Two  remedies 
for  this  evil  were  available,  but  the  Democrats  had  adopted 
the  worse.  They  had  refused  to  adopt  resolutions  asking  for 
a  distribution  oi  the  proceeds  of  the  public  lands  to  all  the 
states,  their  rightful  proprietors ;  by  this  plan  of  distribution 
the  commonwealth  would  ultimately  have  received  one  hun- 
dred and  twenty-five  millions  of  dollars.  They  had,  how- 
ever, adopted  a  scheme  of  burdening  the  people  with  taxa- 
tion, which  tliey  preferred  to  "  the  cheap  declaration  even 
of  an  opinion  which  might  be  considered  offensive  at  Wash- 
ington." Their  refusal  to  consider  resolutions  o<n  the  tariff, 
was  mentioned,  but  was  not  stressed.^ 

The  national  administration  was  held  responsible  by  the 
Whigs  and  Anti-Masons  for  the  business  depression  which 
had  begun  in  1837.^  The  continuance  of  the  hard  times 
and  the  low  prices  obtained  for  agricultural  products  was 
working  for  Harrison's  success.  The  return  of  prosperity, 
it  was  proclaimed,  would  follow  his  election,  but  no  hope 
was  to  be  placed  in  the  Democrats  as  was  shown  by  a  state- 
ment of  Senator  Buchanan,  who  because  of  the  wage  he  was 
alleged  to  favor  was  dubbed  "  Ten-Cent  Jimmie."  ^  The 
passage  of  the  Sub-Treasury  Bill,  it  was  stated,  could  not 
make  business  conditions  worse,  for  it  merely  proposed  to 
legalize  a  system  already  illegally  applied.* 

1  For  the  address  in  full,  National  Gazette,  July  2,  4,  1840. 

*  Ibid.,  October  i,  1839,  said,  "Figures  and  facts  fix  upon  the  federal 
administration,  beginning  with  Jackson's  veto  of  the  United  States 
Bank,  every  calamity  of  the  mercantile  community.  Before  that  event, 
the  credit  system,  although  obnoxious  to  certain  exceptions,  was  com- 
paratively sure  and  regular."  Cf.  also  ibid.,  October  5,  10,  1839; 
United  States  Gazette,  March  19,  October  10,  1840. 

'  United  States  Gazette,  June  9;  Daily  Telegraph,  February  20,  24, 
25,  1840. 

*  United  States  Gazette,  July  3,  9,  1840. 


31 1  ]  YEARS  OF  TRIUMPH  AND  TRIBULATION  65 

Inasmuch  as  Harrison  had  been  nominated  without  a 
platform,  rehance  was  placed  on  his  letter  of  acceptance  of 
the  Anti-Masonic  nomination  in  1838  for  a  statement  of 
his  political  principles/  The  campaign,  however,  was  pri- 
marily one  of  personalities  and  not  one  of  principles."  The 
\\^higs,  endeavoring  to  fasten  the  term  "  Federalist  "  on 
their  opponents/  claimed  that  they  themselves  w^re  the 
true  supporters  of  the  Jeffersonian  doctrines.*  The  sneer 
of  the  Democrats  at  Harrison's  rusticity  was  eagerly  seized 
and  employed  with  telling  effect  against  them  by  the  Whigs. 
At  the  numerous  meetings  of  the  Whigs  the  "  log  cabin," 
the  "  barrel  of  hard  cider,"  and  the  "  same  old  'coon  " 
were  constantly  in  evidence;^  indeed,  it  was  a  Harrisburg 
politician  who  is  said  to  have  been  the  first  to  see  the  possi- 
bilities of  the  "  log-cabin  "  cry.''  The  cry  that  the  nomination 

'  Niles'  Register,  vol.  Iv,  p.  360. 

*  Some  felt  that  the  bank  question  was  still  paramount.  Francis  R. 
Shunk,  secretary  of  the  commonwealth,  on  October  5,  1840,  wrote  Lewis 
S.  Coryell,  "  Stripped  of  all  its  clothes  the  naked  question  for  decision 
at  the  next  Presidential  election  is  whether  the  bank  aristocracy  partly 
American  and  partly  British,  or  the  people  shall  be  sovereign  in  these 
States — Antimasons,  abohtionists,  hard-ciderites,  democratic  Whigs 
flourish  upon  the  Stage  but  the  Bank  and  'Stock  gamblers  are  the  life 
of  the  opposition  and  if  success  could  attend  them  they  would  rule. 
They  care  not  for  the  offices.  A  splendid  bank  and  national  debt  by 
assumption  of  state  debt  fill  their  imaginations,  they  are  grasping  for 
that  power  by  which  her  Kings  have  ruled  England  since  the  Stuarts 
lost  the  right  of  governing  by  prerogative."  Coryell  Papers,  vol.  iii. 
p.  106. 

^  Daily  Telegraphy  January  30,  Februarj^  20,  March  12,  July  2;  United 
States  Gazette,  June  20,  1840. 

*  National  Gazette^  January  20,  30,  July  4,  September  i ;  Daily  Tele- 
graph, January  21,  April  4.  1840. 

'  United  States  Gazette,  March  18,  May  8,  June  16,  20,  .\ugust  22,  Sep- 
tember 21,  30,  1840. 

•*  R.  S.  Elliott,  Notes  taken  from  Sixty  Years,  p.  120. 


66  THE  WHIG  PARTY  IN  PENNSYLVANIA  [312 

of  Harrison  was  the  "  appeal  military "  was  declared  to 
come  with  poor  grace  from  the  party  of  Andrew  Jackson/ 
The  use  of  bloodhounds  to  track  Seminoles  in  the  swamps 
of  Florida  was  proclaimed  a  shocking  military  barbarity, 
authorized  by  the  Van  Buren  administration.' 

The  state  elections,  held  on  October  13,  did  not  indicate 
a  political  upheaval  in  the  commonwealth.  The  official  re- 
turns for  Congressmen  indicated  a  Democratic  majority  of 
forty-six  hundred.  Fifteen  of  the  twenty-eight  Congress- 
men-elect were  Democrats.  The  \Miigs,  however,  by  small 
majorities  secured  control  of  the  legislature.^  Both  sides 
after  the  election  campaigned  more  vigorously  than  before 
in  order  to  secure  the  choice  of  their  electoral  ticket.  Van 
Buren,  never  popular  in  Pennsylvania,  was  held  responsible 
for  the  accumulated  financial  ills  of  the  country.  The 
people  of  the  interior  were  attracted  more  by  the  personality 
of  the  frontiersman  Harrison  than  by  that  of  the  suave  poli- 
tician from  New  York.  In  the  election  Harrison  carried 
the  state  by  a  small  majority  of  about  three  hundred  and 
fifty." 

With  the  election  of  Harrison  to  the  presidency  it  was 
only  natural  that  Pennsylvania,  which  had  been  so  largely 

^National  Gazette,  February  15,  1840. 

^  Daily  Telegraph,  January  30,  April  3;  United  States  Gazette,  Feb- 
ruary 3,  1840. 

*  National  Gazette,  December  5,  1840.  There  had  been  no  opposition 
to  the  Democrats  in  Berks  county. 

*Smull's  Legislative  Hand-Book,  1919,  p.  715.  For  a  time  a  split 
between  the  Anti-Masons  and  Whigs  seemed  imminent.  The  Anti- 
Masonic  state  committee  of  seven,  which  had  been  appointed  at  their, 
convention  of  May  22,  1839,  had  been  expanded  at  the  Harrison  State 
Convention  of  February  22,  1840,  to  a  committee  of  fourteen.  The 
question  of  the  acceptance  of  Josiah  Randall,  a  Mason,  as  an  elector 
puzzled  the  expanded  committee,  for  his  name  on  the  ticket  threatened 
to  drive  Anti-Masonic  votes  away.  Thomas  H.  Burrowes,  July  19, 
1840,  to  Joseph  Wallace;  Wm.  McPherson  Mss. 


313]  YEARS  OF  TRIUMPH  AND  TRIBULATION  67 

instrumental  in  securing  this  result,  should  be  anxious  for 
representation  in  his  cabinet.  Amongst  the  many  claims 
advanced  for  consideration  were  those  of  Jchn  Sergeant 
for  the  Treasury,  and  Thaddeus  Stevens  for  the  Post- 
Office/  Intimations  were  made  that  pressure  had  been 
brought  to  bear  by  Stevens,  Ritner,  and  Burrowes  on  the 
members  of  the  electoral  college  to  secure  signatures  to  a 
recommendation  of  Stevens  for  the  postmaster-generalship. 
The  recommendation,  it  was  alleged,  had  been  signed  by 
all  the  members  of  the  college  save  ten,  all  the  Whigs  and  a 
few  Anti-j\Iasons  spuming  it."  Opposition  to  Stevens  was! 
also  manifested  in  the  state  senate,  where,  according  to 
report,  a  statement  condemning  his  appointment  was  pre- 
pared.^ It  was  quite  evident  that  Harrison  could  make  no 
cabinet  appointment  from  either  of  the  two  branches  of  his 
supporters  within  the  state  without  giving  offense  to  the 
other;  consequently  when  his  cabinet  was  announced  no  one 
from  Pennsylvania  was  on  the  list.  The  Anti-Masons 
found  what  comfort  they  could  in  the  presence  of  Francis 

i  '  The  statement  is  made  that  Harrison  had  promised  the  postmaster- 
generalship  to  Stevens,  but  that  he  did  not  fulfill  his  promise  be- 
cause of  the  pressure  exerted  by  Webster  and  Clay,  who  thereby  in- 
curred the  undying  hostility  of  Stevens;  Hood,  "Thaddeus  Stevens," 
in  Harris,  Biographical  History  of  Lancaster  County;  MoClure,  Our*, 
Presidents  and  Hozv  We  Make  Them,  p.  68;  Adams,  Memoirs  of  John 
Quincy  Adams,  vol  x,  p.  388;  Tyler,  Letters  and  Times  of  the  Tylers 
vol.  iii,  p.  87;  Daily  Telegraph  and  Intelligencer,  January  20,  28,  30; 
Lancaster  Examiner,  quoted  in  ibid.,  January  19;  Pennsylvania  Tele- 
graph, January  20,  30;  February  3,  6,  1841. 

*  United  States  Gazette,  January  23;  Keystone,  January  12,  quoting 
"Wyoming"  in  the  United  States  Gazette;  Pennsylvania  Telegraph, 
March  6,  1841.  Letter  of  Decemljer  28,  1840,  from  Samuel  Parke  to 
Joseph  Wallace;  Wm.  McPherson  Mss. 

^  Daily  Telegraph,  February  5,  8;  Pennsylvania  Telegraph,  January  27, 
February  6,  17,  1841. 


(38  THE  WHIG  PARTY  IN  PENNSYLVANIA  [314 

Granger  of  New  York,  and  refrained  from  condemning 
Harrison/ 

The  attacks  of  the  Whigs  on  Stevens,  when  his  name  waS 
suggested  for  the  cabinet,  offended  the  Anti-Masons.  The 
charge  was  made  that  the  Gettysburg  Star  and  Banner,  the 
mouthpiece  of  Stevens,  was  "  stirring  up  the  old,  stale,  and 
offensive  matter  of  anti-masonr>',  dead,  effete,  and  turned 
out  of  all  decent  society  long  since.  .  .  .  The  Banner  will 
find  itself  just  two  years  too  late  in  its  attempt  to  rake  up 
such  feelings."  -  Such  insults  led  some  of  the  Anti-Masons 
to  consider  the  revival  of  an  independent  state  organization 
for  the  gubernatorial  contest,  which  was  then  impending.^ 
Failing  in  this  endeavor,  they  succeeded,  however,  in  con- 
tinuing the  organization  in  some  of  the  counties.*     The  joint 

'^Pennsylvania  Telegraph,  February  17,  20;  National  Gazette,  Feb- 
ruary 16;  Daily  Telegraph,  February  16,  1841.  The  Anti-Masons  com- 
plained that  they  were  being  discriminated  against  in  the  distribution  of 
the  offices.  Stevens,  on  March  27,  1841,  wrote  Webster  urging  the  ap- 
pointment of  Ritner  as  collector  of  the  port  of  Philadelphia.  "  V/hat 
offence  has  the  interior  of  Penna.  committed  against  the  administra- 
tion; what  crime  have  the  anti-IMasonic  counties,  every  majority  county 
of  ours  save  one,  perpetrated,  that  the  rule  is  to  be  reversed  to  their 
prejudice?  What  high  merit  has  the  city  and  county  of  Philadelphia 
lately  exhibited  which  is  to  command  or  to  justify  their  elevation  oved 
all  Penna.,  and  their  monopoly  of  the  two  great  offices  in  the  State, 
contrary  to  uniform  usage?  You  may  not  know  the  fact,  which  is 
nevertheless  true,  that  not  a  single  office  at  Washington  or  elsewhere 
has  been  given  to  a  Penna.  Antimason.  And  yet  intelligent  honesty 
will  not  deny  that  they  form  4/5ths  of  the  Harrison  party  of  thei 
State.  This  neglect  I  cannot  suppose  to  be  intentional.  But  if  we  are 
to  be  denied  the  collectorship,  the  accidents  adverse  to  our  friends 
would  seem  to  accumulate  with  all  the  certainty  of  design."  Websterj 
Mss.,  Lib.  of  Cong. 

*  United  States  Gazette,  January  14,  1841.  Joseph  R.  Chandler,  editor 
and  owner  of  this  journal,  had  recently  been  elected  grand-master  ofi 
the  state  Masonic  organization;  Keystone,  January  30,   1841. 

» Pennsylvania  Telegraph,  January  20,  30,  February  3,  6,  1841. 

*  Particularly  in  Lancaster,  Adams,  and  Allegheny  counties.  Ihid.. 
June  9;  Daily  Telegraph,  February  27,  Marcli  3;  Keystone,  January  30, 
1841. 


215]  YEARS  OF  TRIUMPH  AND  TRIBULATION  69 

State  organization  was  largely  under  their  control,  and  they 
endeavored  to  use  it  to  advantage.  On  January  6,  1841, 
there  went  forth  from  the  "  Democratic  Harrison  State 
Committee,"  of  which  Thomas  H.  Burrowes  was  chairman, 
a  call  to  "  the  friends  of  General  Harrison  in  Pennsylvania  " 
to  elect  delegates  to  a  state  convention  to  meet  in  Harrisburg 
on  March  10,  1841,  "for  the  purpose  of  selecting  a  candi- 
date for  the  office  of  Governor,  to  be  supported  by  the  De- 
mocratic party  of  the  State,  at  the  approaching  general 
election."  ^  When  the  convention  assembled,  it  nominated 
John  Banks,  the  competent,  but  little-known,  president- 
judge  of  the  Berks-Lehigh-Northampton  district,  and  re- 
ferred to  itself  as  "  the  convention  representing  the  great 
Democratic  party  which  on  the  30th  of  October  last  achieved 
a  glorious  victory  in  the  election  of  Gen.  William  Henry 
Harrison."  " 

On  January  15,  1841,  the  day  set  by  the  resolutions  of 
April  3,  1840,  the  banks  of  the  state  resumed  specie  pay-- 
ment,  which  had  been  suspended  since  October  9,  1839. 
At  the  time  it  seemed  quite  possible  that  the  banks  might  be 
able  to  continue  meeting  all  demands  for  specie  payment; 
but,  on  February  4,  the  Bank  of  the  United  States,  after 
having  paid  out  six  million  dollars  in  specie,  was  again 
forced  to  suspend.  Most  of  the  other  banks  were  able  to 
avoid  taking  this  step.^  The  banking  situation  was  thus 
again  forced  on  the  attention  of  the  legislature. 

The  Whigs,  who,  as  a  result  of  the  election  of  1840,  were 
in  full  control  of  the  legislature,  determined  to  handle  the 
situation  in  their  own  way.  Without  a  roll-call  a  bill,  en- 
titled "  An  act  relating  to  State  Street,  in  the  borough  of 

^National  Gazette.  January  11,  1&41. 
*  United  States  Gazette,  \farch  12,  1841. 
^  Ibid.,  March  12,  1841. 


yo  THE  WHIG  PARTY  IN  PENNSYLVANIA  [316 

Harrisbtirg,"  had,  on  February  i,  passed  the  senate/  For 
more  than  two  months,  while  their  opponents  tried  various 
measures  to  secure  action  on  the  banking  situation,  the 
Whigs  allowed  this  bill  to  slumber  in  a  committee  oi  the 
house.  On  April  16,  by  a  strict  party  vote  of  fifty-four  to 
forty-four,  the  bill  was  so  amended  b)^  the  house  that  it 
provided  for  the  raising  of  revenue,  the  increasing  of  taxa- 
tion, the  making  of  many  appropriations,  the  authorizing 
of  a  loan  to  the  state,  the  issuance  of  "  relief  notes  "  by  the 
banks  which  participated  in  the  loan,  and  the  possible 
resuscitation  of  the  Bank  of  the  United  States.^  The 
Democrats  failed  in  their  effort  to  have  adopted  a  section 
requiring  Nicholas  Biddle  to  turn  over  to  the  assignees  of 
the  Bank  of  the  United  States  the  service  of  sterling  silver 
"  presented  to  him  by  the  directors  or  self-styled  majority 
of  stock-holders  of  said  Bank,  as  a  reward  for  his  alleged 
meritorious  service  in  conducting  the  financial  operations 
of  said  Bank,"  and  compelling  the  directors  personally  to 
pay  the  difference  between  the  cost  of  the  sendee  and  its 
value  as  bullion.^  The  senate  refused  to  accept  all  the 
amendments  of  the  house.  Efforts  to  hold  the  bank  for 
the  unpaid  portions  of  its  pledge  to  the  public  school  fund 
were  readily  defeated.*  On  April  30  the  report  of  the  con- 
ference committee  was  accepted  by  strict  party  voting,  in 
the  senate  by  17  to  14,  in  the  house  by  50  to  42.  The  bill 
was  now  entitled  "  An  act  to  provide  revenue  to  meet  the 
demands  on  the  treasury  and  for  other  purposes."  ^     On 

^Senate  Journal,  1841,  vol.  i,  p.  172. 

*  House  Journal,  1841,  vol.  i,  pp.  229,  804,  859. 
"Ibid.,  1841,  vol.  i,  p.  810. 

*  Senate  Journal,  1841,  vol.  i,  p.  869;  the  vote  was  7  to  20. 

^  Ibid.,  1841,  vol.  i,  pp.  908,  933;  House  Journal,  18L41,  vol.  i,  pp.  952, 
971. 


317]  YEARS  OF  TRIUMPH  AND  TRIBULATION  yi 

the  following  day  the  governor  returned  the  bill  with  his 
veto,  declaring  that  "  the  boon  extended  to  the  banks  is 
not  only  greater  than  is  necessary,  but  greater  than  has  been 
asked  for  by  any  of  these  institutions."  ^  The  day  set  for 
the  adjournment  of  the  legislature  was  rapidly  approaching. 
The  Whigs  had  declared  their  intention,  in  the  event  that 
they  would  be  unable  to  override  the  governor's  veto,  to 
adjourn  without  taking  any  further  action  on  the  important 
measures  which  were  involved  in  the  bill.  The  contractors 
on  the  state  works  would  then  be  left  unpaid  and  disaster 
would  descend  on  manv  counties.  Immediatelv  after  the 
receipt  of  the  vetoed  bill,  the  senate  passed  the  measure  by 
a  vote  of  17  to  8;  the  refusal  of  six  Democrats  to  vote 
assured  success.^  In  the  house  victory  for  the  Whigs  did 
not  come  so  easily.  After  two  failures  to  override  the 
veto,  the  Whigs,  with  the  assistance  of  thirteen  Democrats, 
passed  the  bill,  on  May  4,  by  a  vote  of  62  to  28.  The 
thirteen  Democrats  asserted  that  they  objected  to  the  bill, 
but  since  the  suggestions  of  the  governor  would  not  be  fol- 
lowed by  the  existing  legislature  they  had  reluctantly  voted 
for  it  rather  than  "  behold  our  Commonwealth  become  a 
by-word  and  reproach  among  the  nations  of  the  earth."  ^ 

The  act  provided  for  a  further  loan  to  the  state  up  to 
three  million  and  one  hundred  thousand  dollars,  which,  with 
certain  exceptions,  could  be  subscribed  for  by  the  banks  of 
the  state  in  bank-notes,  authorized  by  the  act  and  issued  in 
denominations  of  five  dollars  and  less.  These  "  relief 
notes,"  redeemable  in  state  stocks,  were  receivable  for 
debts  due  to  the  state*     Because  of  the  failure  to  provide 

'  Senate  Journal,  1841,  vol.  i,  p.  965. 

'  Ibid.,  1841,  vol.  i,  p.  969. 

^  House  Journal,  1841,  vol.  i,  pp.  971,  101 1,  1047,  1055,  io5<> 

♦  Session  Laws,  1841,  vol.  i,  p.  307.    Thirty-three  banks  accepted,  and 


72  THE  WHIG  PARTY  IN  PENNSYLVANIA  [318 

for  tlie  redemption  of  these  "  relief  notes  "  through  taxa- 
tion, their  depreciation  followed.^  The  act  also  provided 
for  the  possible  resuscitation  of  the  Bank  of  the  United 
State,  or  for  its  liquidation,  if  revival  should  prove  to  be 
impossible.  Liquidation  proved  to  be  necessary;  conse- 
quently on  September  4,  1841,  an  assignment  of  the  re- 
sources of  the  bank  was  made.^  The  bank  had  been  a 
Whig  organization,  and  within  the  state  its  notes  had  been 
an  important  medium  of  excliange  Now  that  the  notes 
were  not  accepted,  the  criticisms  of  the  Whigs  by  the  De- 
mocrats were  convincing  to  the  holders  oi  the  well-nigh 
worthless  certificates.^ 

During  the  sessions  of  the  legislature  Governor  Porter 
had  vetoed  a  large  number  of  bills.  Following  his  nomina- 
tion for  reelection  at  the  state  Democratic  convention  of 
March  4,  1841,  the  "  Harrison  Democratic  members  of  the 
State  Legislature,"  adopting  the  plan  of  the  year  before, 
issued  an  address  under  date  of  May  5,  in  which  they  at- 
tacked the  governor  for  his  abuse  of  the  veto  power.  They 
excoriated  him  for  his  veto  of  the  bill  to  relieve  the  financial 
stringency,  claiming  that  previous  to  the  veto  he  had  made 
no  suggestions  to  them  as  to  what  would  be  acceptable. 
The  passage  of  the  l:)ill  over  his  veto  had  offered  reliefi 
to  a  large  number  of  men  who  would  otherwise  have  been 
made  destitute  through  the  failure  to  provide  funds  for  the 

eighteen  did  not ;  "  Report  of  the  Auditor  General,"  House  Journal, 
1842,  vol.  ii,  p.  1 18.  There  were  issued  $2,220,264  in  "  relief  notes." 
The  auditor-general  still  annually  reports  the  issues;  for  tliere  are 
$40,806  of  the  old  issue,  and  $55,287  of  the  new  issue  "  in  circulation"  ; 
Report  of  the  Auditor-General,  1917,  p.  12. 

'  Worthington,  Finances  of  Pennsylvania,  p.  56. 

*  National  Gazette,  November  30,  1841. 

»  The  Keystone,  May  18,  June  2,  23,  August  4,  11,  September  8,  22,  27, 
1841.  The  fact  that  "  Ritner's  and  Stevens'  Regulator"  had  eventually 
exploded  was  stressed. 


319]  YEARS  OF  TRIUMPH  AND  TRIBULATION  73 

continuance  of  construction  and  for  the  payment  of  labor 
already  done  on  the  public  works  of  the  state.  They 
decried  the  use  of  the  veto  for  other  than  constitutional 
reasons.     Summing  up  their  criticism,  they  said, 

At  least  ten  Executive  vetoes  disfigure  the  Journals  of  this 
session,  and  in  but  one  of  them  has  the  Governor  pretended  to 
indicate  other  than  considerations  of  local  expediency,  of  which 
the  Representatives  of  the  people  believed  they  were  the 
best  judges.^ 

Before  election  day  national  affairs  attracted  attention. 
The  death  of  Harrison  elevated  Tyler,  whose  political  viewa 
had  not  been  fully  ascertained  when  he  was  nominated  for 
the  vice-presidency.  In  accordance  with  the  call  of  Har- 
rison, Congress  assembled  in  special  session  on  May  31. 
Tyler's  message,  if  not  enthusiastically  received,  was  con- 
sidered at  least  favorably.^  It  seemed  to  indicate  that  he 
would  not  oppose  the  will  of  Congress,  but  his  veto  of  the 
"  Fiscal  Bank  Bill,"  followed  by  his  veto  of  the  "  Fiscal 
Corporation  Bill,"  disrupted  the  party,  and  the  entire 
cabinet  with  the  exception  of  Webster  resigned.  These 
vetoes  by  the  Whig  President  took  the  edge  off  of  the 
criticisms  of  the  vetoes  by  the  Democratic  governor. 

The  governor  was  also  subjected  to  criticism  Ijy  the 
Whigs  as  the  result  of  an  incident  growing  out  of  the  cam- 
paign of  1840.  E.  W.  Hutter  and  John  J.  C.  Cantine  had 
been  editors  of  a  Democratic  campaign  paper  called  The 
Magician.  During  the  heat  of  the  campaign  they  had 
printed  an  article  asserting  that  the  Whigs  engaged  in 
sacrilegious  and  blasphemous  rites  at  their  political  meet- 
ings. They  stated  that  at  the  Gettysburg  meetings  Thad- 
deus   Stevens,   officiating  as  "  High  Priest,"   led   the  out- 

^  Niks'  Register,  vol.  Ix,  p.  212. 

•  United  States  Gazette,  June  3,  1841. 


J74  THE  WHIG  PARTY  IN  PENNSYLVANIA  [320 

rageous  ceremonies.  After  the  election  Stevens  sued  the 
editors  for  libel  in  his  home  county,  Adams.  When  the 
case  was  on  trial,  the  attorney  for  the  defendants  offered 
as  a  bar  to  the  proceedings  a  proclamation,  signed  January 
23,  1 841,  by  the  governor,  pardoning  the  defendants  from 
the  charge  of  libel. ^  The  issuance  of  a  pardon  before  co'n- 
viction  was  held  by  the  Whigs  to  be  a  perversion  of  the 
pardoning  power. 

The  virulent  attacks  on  the  personal  morality  of  Porter, 
which  had  been  so  common  in  the  election  of  1838,  were  not 
revived  for  this  election.  Charges  of  maladministration 
were  made  instead.  It  was  claimed  that  there  had  been  an 
unwarranted  increase  in  the  amount  of  the  state  debt  and 
that  the  public  works  were  being  mismanaged.  Peculation 
and  bribery  in  the  passage  of  the  Bank  Act  of  1840  were 
alleged.  The  sum  of  ninety-nine  thousand  dollars  was 
mentioned  as  having  been  used  by  the  Bank  of  the  United 
States  for  some  undeclared  and  unholy  purpose.^ 

The  returns  showed  the  election  of  Porter  by  a  large 
majority.^  In  the  legislature  the  Democrats  gained  control 
of  the  house,  but  the  senate,  due  to  the  large  number  of 
hold-overs,  remained  in  the  power  of  the  Whigs.*  In  en- 
deavoring to  account  for  their  defeat  the  Whig  editors) 
claimed  that  many  who  in  1840  had  voted  for  Harrison  had 
left  the  party  because  of  unfulfilled  expectations,  which  they 
had  anticipated  would  be  realized  through  a  mere  change 

*  The  proclamation  of  pardon  is  in  Pennsylvania  Telegraph,  February 
3,  1841. 

*  Ibid.,  September  18;  National  Gazette,  September  21,  1841. 
^Smull's  Legislative  Hand-Book,  1919,  p.  720;  David  R.  Porter  (Dem.) 

136.504;  John  Banks  (Whig)  113,473;  F.  J.  Lamoyne  (Liberty)  762; 
scattering  23. 

*■  Pennsylvania  Telegraph,  December  29,  1841.  The  senate  contained  17 
Whigs  and  16  Democrats;  the  house  had  Z7  VVhigs  and  63  Democrats. 


32 1 ]  YEARS  OF  TRIUMPH  AND  TRIBULATION  75 

of  administrations.  Neglect  of  the  former  Anti-Masons 
in  the  distribution  of  the  patronage  accounted  for  a  great 
deal  of  coolness  in  certain  sections  of  the  state/  The 
former  Anti-Masonic  press  attributed  the  defeat,  which 
they  had  been  expecting,  to  slurs  which  had  been  made 
against  them.  They  claimed  that  their  party  had  redeemed 
the  state,  and  that  of  the  140,000  votes,  cast  for  Harrison, 
120,000  had  been  Anti-Masonic.  Despite  their  numerical 
strength  they  had  not  been  appointed  to  office. 

The  anti-masons  were  represented  as  unpopular,"  vulgar,  and 
inefficient.  The  gentlemen  whigs  and  the  5  o'clock  converts 
were  the  meritorious  and  able  candidates  for  office.  They 
found  favor  with  the  present  administration;  and  were  ap- 
pointed to  all  offices  from  which  locofocos  could  be  spared.- 

Both  Whigs  and  Anti-Masons  agreed  in  tlius  accounting 
for  the  hea\y  less  in  the  counties  which  had  been  strong- 
holds of  the  latter. 

The  problem  of  the  financial  rehabilitation  of  the  state 
was  still  unsolved.  The  governor  therefore  took  up  the 
question  in  his  annual  message  recommending  that  in  ad- 
dition to  disposing  of  the  state-owned  stocks  the  public 
works  be  sold,  claiming  that  they  could  not  be  administered 
as  economically  under  governmental  as  under  private  con- 
trol.^ Nothing  came  of  his  recommendation  as  attention 
was  directed  to  other  financial  problems.  Resolutions,  from 
a  mass  meeting  in  Philadelphia,  urging  repudiation  of  the 

^National  Gazette,  October  17;  United  States  Gazette,  October  15,  23, 
1841. 

*  Gettysburg  Star  quoted  in  Pennsylvania  Telegraph,  November  3, 
1841.  Ex-Governor  Ritiier,  one  of  the  few  Anti-Masons  nominated, 
had  been  rejected  by  the  Senate  of  the  I'nited  States  because  of  alleged 
"incurable  blindness";  Pennsylvania  Telegraph.  September  22,  1841. 

^Pennsylvania  Archives,  series  iv,  vol.  vi,  p.  831. 


-6  THE  WHIG  PARTY  IN  PENNSYLVANIA  [322 

State  debt  met  with  immediate  non-partisan  condemnation/ 
The  state  was,  however,  on  the  verge  of  bankruptcy,  and 
interest  on  the  state  debt  was  not  met  promptly  when  it  fell 
due  on  February-  i,  1842.  Beginning  on  January  29, 
there  had  been  a  run  on  the  Bank  of  Pennsylvania,  the 
state  depository  and  disbursing  agent.  The  run  on  the  bank; 
had  followed  the  closure  of  the  Girard  Bank  a  few  daysl 
previously.  The  other  banks  of  Philadelphia  had  refused 
to  render  either  of  them  any  assistance.  The  governor, 
who  chanced  to  be  in  Philadelphia  at  the  time,  had  an  in- 
jimction  issued  against  the  Bank  of  Pennsylvania  forbid- 
ding it  to  pay  out  further  moneys.  This  action  guaranteed 
the  funds  of  the  state,  enabling  the  Bank  of  Pennsylvania 
to  begin  paying  the  interest  on  the  public  debt  on  February 
14,  a  delay  of  two  weeks. ^  Thus  the  banking  question 
again  assumed  importance. 

The  Democrats  brought  in  their  bill  to  remedy  tlie! 
banking  ills,  which  to  their  mind  consisted  in  the  participa- 
tion of  the  state  as  a  partner  in  various  private  corporations. 
They,  therefore,  called  for  a  "  total  divorce  between  Bank 
and  State."  ^  The  bill  readily  passed  the  house,  although 
the  section  ordering  immediate  resumption  under  threat  of 
forfeiture  of  charter  received  considerable  opposition. 
The  senate  amended  the  bill  slightly.  A  conference  between 
the  two  houses  adjusted  the  differences,  and  the  measure 
received  the  signature  of  the  governor  on  March  12,  1842.* 
Although  the  act  was  not  strictly  a  party  measure,  yet  it 

^  North  American,  January  7,  8;  The  Keystone,  January  15,  1842. 

'^  North  American,  January  31,  February  i,  2,  3,  4,  7,  12,  14,  15;  1842. 
It  was  not  until  April  17,  1843,  that  resumption  was  effected;  ibid.,  April 
18,  1843. 

'  The  Keystone,  February  5,  1842. 

*  Session  Laws,  1842,  p.  68. 


323]  YEARS  OF  TRIUMPH  AND  TRIBULATION  yy 

received  severe  criticism  from  the  Whigs,  particularly 
from  those  in  Philadelphia,  one  of  whose  editors  exclaimed, 

Some  think  our  resumption  bill  should  be  called  a  bill  to  relieve 
our  country  banks,  break  down  those  of  our  city,  and  help  the 
New  York  brokers;  others  think  it  should  be  called  a  bill  to 
establish  a  state  currency,  with  relief  notes  as  a  basis ;  others 
insist  it  should  be  called  a  bill  to  postpone  indefinitely  specie 
payment.  Were  we  called  upon  ourselves  to  christen  it,  we 
should  call  it  a  bill  to  lose  all  the  benefits  which  it  sought,  and 
realize  all  the  evils  it  would  shun;  or,  if  that  won't  do,  then  call 
it  a  bill,  composed  of  party  springs,  to  catch  political  wood 
cock.^ 

In  the  meantime,  the  charges  that  the  Bank  of  the  United 
States  had  resorted  to  bribery  to  secure  the  passage  of  the 
resolutions  of  April  3,  1840,  were  being  investigated."  The 
Handy  Investigation,  as  it  was  called  because  George 
Handy,  one  of  the  directors  of  the  bank,  had  acted  as  its 
agent,  began  on  February  14.  In  order  to  relieve  Handy 
from  the  danger  of  a  criminal  prosecution,  w^hich  might  be 
based  on  his  testimony  before  the  committee,  the  legislature 
adopted  a  joint  resolution  authorizing  the  attorney-general 
to  issue  a  )iolle  prosequi,  if  such  suit  were  brought  against 
Handy.^  Handy  claimed  that  Daniel  M.  Brodhead,  "  a 
constant  borer  at  Harrisburg,  for  many  years  past,  on  be- 
half of  Banks  and  other  corporations,"  had  acted  as  the 
intermediary  between  him  and  the  governor.  A  letter  from 
J.   Solms,  president  of  the  Moyamensing  Bank  of   Phila- 

^  North  American,  March  11,  1842;  cf.  also  ibid.,  March  15,  18,  19; 
United  States  Gazette,  March  9,  1842. 

*"  Report  of  the  joint  committee  of  investigation,  appointed  by  the 
legislature  of  Pennsylvania,  to  investigate  whether  corrupt  means  had 
been  used  to  procure  legislation  favorable  to  the  hanks  frmn  1S36  to 
1841."    Senate  Journal,  1842,  vol.  ii. 

*  Session  Laws,  1842,  p.  479. 


-8  THE  WHIG  PARTY  IN  PENNSYLVANIA  [324 

delphia,  to  George  Handy  was  produced,  stating  tliat  Solms 
would  again  pay  his  respects  to  the  governor  and  would 
"  talk  in  the  Indian  language."  Many  letters  in  code  were 
submitted  at  the  investigation.  In  one  to  an  undisclosed 
addressee,  possibly  Handy,  Solms  wrote, 

To-morrow,  I  expect  to  hear  from  you  respecting  business  in 
the  lumber  way,  which  is  plenty,  cheap  now,  and  will  sell. 
People  will  build  in  hopes  of  better  tim.es,  however  you  are  more 
sanguine  than  I  am  in  that  business  way. — They  may  not  sell  as 
low  as  you  think.  Persons  in  desperate  circumstances  take  care 
of  themselves  when  they  are  pressed ;  in  obtaining  time  they 
believe  to  weather  the  storm. ^ 

The  letters  furnished  the  political  opponents  of  the  gover- 
nor the  opporttmity  of  lampooning  him  as  an  Indian  chief, 
particularly  as  a  "  Kickapoo,"  and  of  manifesting  great  in- 
terest in  the  lumber  market.^ 

The  incomplete  investigation  failed  to  establish  the  fact 
that  either  the  governor  or  any  member  of  the  legislature 
had  received  any  of  the  $131,175,  placed  at  the  disposal  of 
Handy.^     The  committee,  both  in  the  majority  and  in  the 

1  House  Journal,  1842,  Appendix,  pp.  461,  et  scq. 

^  Pennsyhania  Telegraph,  April  20,  27,  May  4;  North  American, 
April  6,  8,  August  4,  6,  1842.  A  portion  only  of  the  Democratic  press! 
defended  the  governor;  The  Keystone,  April  13,  A'lay  10,  June  22, 
July  13,  18,  1842.  When  charges  were  made  against  the  governor,  he 
ordered  the  attorney-general  to  commence  a  criminal  prosecution  of 
Handy  so  that  the  entire  matter  might  be  investigated,  claiming  that 
the  resolution  ordering  a  nolle  prosequi  would  not  be  violated  thereby; 
Pennsylvania  Archives  series  iv,  vol.  vi,  p.  900.  The  anti-administration 
papers  claimed  that  he  was  trying  to  stifle  the  investigation.  The  gov- 
ernor did  not  appear  before  the  committee,  altliough  it  had  resolved 
that  "if  he  were  desirous  of  appearing  before  them  to  testify  they 
would  have  no  objections  to  hear  him;"  The  Keystone,  July  13,  1842. 

*  Miners'  Journal,  March  11,  1843,  thought  it  "but  proper  to  infer 
that  he  shared  the  proceeds." 


325]  YEARS  OF  TRIUMPH  AND  TRIBULATION  yg 

minority  reports  exonerated  them,  claiming  that  the  money 
had  been  lavishly  spent  on  "  borers."  Attacks  on  the  gov- 
ernor were  continued  in  the  next  legislature ;  but  the  efforts 
to  impeach  him  were  easily  defeated/  M.  B.  Lowry,  one 
of  the  Democratic  members  of  the  investigating  committee, 
took  a  view  of  the  situation,  which  reflected  the  opinion  of 
many  members  of  the  party. 

It  is  a  striking  fact,  and  one  which  strongly  illustrates  its 
enormous  wickedness,  that  the  very  individuals  who  by  fraud 
and  corruption  brought  it  [the  Bank  of  the  United  States]  into 
a  Pennsylvania  Institution  after  the  Union  had  rejected  it  have 
turned  abruptly  round  and  charged  their  own  high  offences 
upon  the  Democratic  Party  which  from  principle  and  sound 
policy  has  uniformly  contended  in  opposition  to  it.  The  under- 
signed however  conceives  this  a  fruitless  task,  and  thinks  that 
these  men  will  have  to  share  the  responsibility  of  its  rise  and 
downfall  among  themselves,  the  verdict  of  an  impartial  poster- 
ity will  say,  the  Whig  party  created  it,  its  advocates  and  agents 
plundered  its  stockholders  and  creditors,  and  the  Democratic 
party  has  had  neither  part  nor  lot  therein.- 

That  the  Whigs,  in  the  main,  were  responsible  for  the  evils 
in  the  banking  system  can  not  be  denied.  The  final  failure 
of  the  Bank  of  the  United  States  and  the  passage  of  various! 
bank  acts  by  the  Democrats  during  their  long  period  of 
power  removed  the  question  from  political  strife.  Further- 
more, the  tariff  was  rising  to  a  position  of  great  impor- 
tance, directing  attention  away  from  state  to  national 
politics. 

The  question  of  the  pa\Tnent  of  the  interest  on  the  state 
debt  required  attention;  for  the  legislature  had  adopted  a 

^Public  Ledger,  January  16;   United  States  Gazette,  January  9,   19; 
North  American,  March  8,  13,  1843. 
*  House  Journal,  1842,  Appendix,  p.  187. 


So  THE  WHIG  PARTY  IN  PENNSYLVANIA  [326 

joint  resolution  to  aid  the  contractors  on  the  state  worksl 
by  appropriating  for  their  benefit  the  money  which  had 
previously  been  set  aside  to  pay  the  interest/  To  preserve 
the  remnant  of  the  credit  of  the  state,  the  act  of  July  2y, 
1842,  was  passed.  The  semi-annual  payment  of  the  in- 
terest was  due  on  August  i,  but  no  funds  were  available. 
The  act  authorized  the  payment  of  the  interest  in  six  per 
cent  scrip  due  in  one  year.  A  certain  percentage  of  the 
claims  of  the  contractors,  some  of  which  were  dated  before 
May  II,  1 84 1,  was  to  be  paid.  The  sale  of  the  state-mvned 
stock  in  private  corporations  was  authorized.  The  gov- 
ernor was  given  authority  to  receive  bids  for  the  sale  of 
the  public  works.  Retirement  of  the  scrip  was  provided 
for  by  the  levy  of  a  small  tax  on  real  and  personal  pro- 
perty.' It  was  hoped  that  this  measure  would  prove  to  be 
a  temporary  expedient,  but  recourse  had  to  be  had  to  scrip 
on  the  interest  dates  in  1843  3.nd  in  1844.^ 

Another  matter  of  state  importance  was  the  veto  by 
the  governor  of  the  apportionment  bill,  which  had  been 
passed  as  a  result  of  the  districting  act  of  Congress,  based 
on  the  census  of  1840.  The  governor  claimed  that  the  pro- 
portion in  the  districts  was  not  equal  and  that  the  minority 

*  Session  Laws,  1842,  p.  486,  resolutions  of  April  7,  1843. 

^  Ibid.,  1842,  p.  441.  The  Pennsylvania  Telegraph,  August  17,  1842, 
said,  "  No  one  voted  for  the  tax  bill  but  loco  focos,  the  city  Whigsi 
and  a  few  western  members,  who  were  representing  the  interests  of 
the  '  domestic  creditors '.  The  bill  was  so  log-rolled,  that  these  latter 
could  not  help  voting  as  they  did,  although  in  every  instance  where 
a  tax  was  proposed  by  itself,  without  the  condition  annexed  of  a  dis- 
posal of  the  public  works,  they  opposed  it."  The  state-owned  stock 
could  not  be  sold  because  of  restrictions  in  the  act;  no  adequate  bids 
for  the  state  works  were  received. 

'  Worthington,  Sketch  of  the  Finances  of  Pennsylvania,  p.  57.  A 
total  of  $4,502,824.01  was  issued  in  this  scrip.  Under  the  acts  of  April 
29,  1844,  and  April  16,  1845,  $4,360,494.39  were  funded;  Report  of  the 
Auditor-General,  1882,  p.  233. 


227]  YEARS  OF  TRIUMPH  AND  TRIBULATION  gl 

party  was  favored ;  he  said,  "  I  assure  the  world,  that  no 
apportionment  will  ever  receive  my  sanction,  which  in  any 
degree,  is  designed  to  steal  power  from  the  many,  and  con- 
fer it  upon  the  few."  ^  Due  to  the  failure  of  the  legisla- 
ture to  pass  an  act  satisfactory  to  the  governor,  no  election 
for  Congressmen  was  held  this  year. 

In  December,  1841,  interest  was  directed  to  national 
affairs  by  the  assembling  of  Congress  in  its  regular  session. 
The  reference  by  the  President  in  his  message  toi  the  bank- 
ing question  attracted  slight  attention."  More  concern  was 
felt  in  the  state  over  the  disposal  of  the  tariff  question. 
On  March  25,  1842,  the  President  submitted  a  message  to 
Congress  relative  to  the  funds  at  the  disposal  of  the  Treas- 
ur)^^  His  proposal  to  repeal  the  land-distribution  act, 
passed  at  the  recent  extra  session  of  Congress,  and  to  apply 
the  funds  thus  released  to  the  pa3^ment  of  the  interest  and 
of  the  debt  of  the  federal  government  was  condemned.  It 
was  declared, 

The  true  question  at  issue  is  not  whether  the  general  govern- 
ment, or  the  States,  shall  have  the  avails  of  these  lands,  but 
whether  the  old  States  shall  share  them  with  the  new ;  or 
whether  the  new  shall  have  the  whole;  that  is  the  question. 
For  the  old  States  to  vote  for  a  repeal  of  the  Land  Bill  would 
be  the  most  suicidal  act  that  they  could  possibly  commit."* 

While  the  W'higs  of  the  state  condemned  the  proposal  to 
repeal  the  distribution  act,  the  proposal  to  increase  the  tariff 

^  Fennsylvania  Archives,  series  iv,  vol.  vi,  p.  9144.  In  McClure,  Old 
Time  Notes  of  Pennsylvania,  vol.  i,  p.  69,  it  is  stated  that  Porter 
vetoed  the  bill  because  it  made  the  election  of  two  of  his  friends  im- 
possible. 

*  Richardson,  Messages  and  Papers  of  the  Presidents,  vol.  iv,  p.  Sz- 

*  Ibid.,  vol.  iv,  p.  106. 

*  North  American,  March  28,  1842. 


82  THE  WHIG  PARTY  IN  PENNSYLVANIA  [328 

rates  was  heralded  gladly.  "  A  tariff  is  sufficient,  and  that 
we  must  have,  repeal  or  no  repeal."  ^ 

A  tariff  bill,  which  proposed  to  raise  the  rates  above 
twenty  per  cent  and  at  the  same  time  continue  the  provisions 
of  the  distribution  act,  was  returned  on  June  29  with  a 
presidential  veto.-  The  President  felt  that  a  temporary 
revenue  measure  was  overthrowing  a  permanent  com- 
promise. His  use  of  the  veto  was  condemned  by  the  Whigs ; 
for,  although  its  exercise  was  constitutional,  he  had  ad- 
vanced no  constitutional  argument  for  its  use.^  It  was 
pointed  out  that  the  President  was  now  in  full  and  complete 
harmony  with  the  policy  of  the  Democrats.*  Another  tariff 
bill,  similar  to  the  preceding  one  save  in  a  few  minor 
matters,  was  returned  on  August  9  with  a  veto  message, 
which  virtually  repeated  the  previous  arguments  in  its  in- 
sistence on  the  non-inclusion  of  the  distribution  provisions 
in  the  tariff  measure.^  The  veto  was  declared  to  be  "  anl 
act  of  madness "  on  the  part  of  "  his  Accidency,"  who 
cared  little  how  much  the  coimtry  suffered. 

The  manufacturers  of  the  country  are  crushed,  our  commerce 
broken  up,  our  shipping  rotting  in  the  docks,  and  ruin  and  con- 
sternation spread  abroad  upon  the  land :  and  all  this  done  in  the 
mad  hope  of  retaining  a  station  which  would  never  have  been 
accorded  to  him  at  the  hands  of  the  people." 

An  analysis  of  the  vote  on  the  bill,  in  its  passage  through  the 

»  United  States  Gazette,  March  29,   1842. 

*  Richardson,  op.  cit.,  voL  iv,  p.  180. 

'  United  States  Gazette,  July  i ;  North  American,  July  i,  1842. 

*  North  American,  July  2,  1842. 

•Richardson,  op.  cit.,  vol.  iv,  p.  183;  reference  of  this  message  to  a 
committee,  which  reported  condemnatory  resolutions,  led  to  a  pro- 
test from  the  President;  ibid.,  vol.  iv,  p.  190. 

^United  States  Gazette,  August  11,  1842. 


329]  YEARS  OF  TRIUMPH  AND  TRIBULATION  83 

House,  which  was  to  receive  the  signature  of  the  President, 
shows  that  it  was  primarily  a  Whig  measure,  but  that  more 
Whigs  voted  in  the  negative  than  Democrats  voted  in  the 
affirmative.  It  was  not  distinctively  a  sectional  measure, 
for  as  many  votes  south  of  the  Mason  and  Dixon  line  were 
cast  for  it,  as  votes  north  of  the  line  were  cast  against  it. 
Ten  Whigs  and  ten  Democrats  from  Pennsylvania  voted 
for  it,  while  three  Whigs  and  five  Democrats  did  not  vote.^ 
In  Pennsylvania  the  question  of  the  tariff  was  not  yet  a! 
party  issue,  although  the  Whigs  were  asserting  that  it  was.^ 
The  act  was  generally  received  with  favor  although  it  was 
recognized  that  it  lacked  permanency.  The  tariff  Whigs( 
were  urged  to  be  conciliatory  to  the  distribution  Whigs, 
who  were  to  be  congratulated  for  yielding  and  sacrificing 
their  provision.^ 

Before  the  adjournment  of  Congress,  "  Vetoes  No.  5 
and  6  "  were  received.  The  former  on  the  land-distribu- 
tion bill  had  been  expected,  but  the  latter,  coming  unex- 
pectedly, was  condemned  as  an  unwarranted  interference  in 
a  matter  which  affected  merely  the  organization  of  Con- 
gress.* 

The  supporters  of  Tyler,  few  in  number  though  they 
were,  were  active  in  tr^'ing  to  get  the  aid  of  the  Democrats 
for  their  leader.  At  Philadelphia,  on  the  Fourth  of  July, 
1842,  a  delegation  was  sent  from  the  Tyler  banqueters  to 
carry  a  toast  to  Democratic  banqueters.  The  Democratsl 
replied  in  their  toast  that  they  "  sought  no  alliance  but  look! 
for  the  justice  of  our  cause  for  success.  Truth  is  mighty 
and  will   prevail."  '^     At  a  Fourth  of  July  dinner  at  the 

^ North  American,  August  26,  1842. 

» Pcnnsylvauia  Telegraphy  September  14.  tRj? 

*  Ibid.,  August  ji ;  North  American,  .August  25,  1842. 

*  North  American,  September  3,  1842. 

»  Ibid.,  July  7 ;  United  States  Gazette,  July  6,  1842. 


^4  THE  WHIG  PARTY  IN  PENNSYLVANIA  [330 

White  House  nearly  forty  Democrats  were  present.  One 
of  these,  C.  J.  Ingersoll,  a  Philadelphia  Congressman,  was 
credited  with  the  toast,  "  Veto  and  Ditto."  ^  The  Demo- 
crats were  making  it  evident  that  they  were  willing  to  en- 
courage disaffection  in  the  Whig  party,  willing  to  profit 
by  the  resulting  split,  but  unwilling  to  follow  Tyler.  The 
patronage  was  also,  of  course,  being  used  for  the  purpose 
of  developing  a  Tyler  following.  Secretary  of  the  Treasury 
Walter  Forward  had  in  April  asked  Jonathan  Roberts, 
collector  of  the  custom  duties  at  Philadelphia,  tO'  remove  a 
certain  number  of  employees.  Roberts  asked  for  and  was 
granted  a  conference  on  the  question  of  the  removals.  His 
refusal  to  comply  with  the  request  was  followed  in  Sep- 
tember by  his  own  removal.^ 

Following  these  events  came  the  election  of  1842,  at 
which  only  members  of  the  state  legislature  were  to  be 
chosen,  and  which  in  consequence  failed  to  attract  much 
attention,  altliough  the  next  legislature  was  tO'  choose  a 
United  States  Senator  to  succeed  James  Buchanan.  The 
Whigs  had  no  one  for  whom  to  work  up  enthusiasm,  while 
the  Democrats  sneered  at  the  possibility  of  the  state  being 
represented  by  "  Thaddeus  Stevens,  Joseph  Ritner,  Thomasi 
H.  Burrowes  or  some  other  of  the  back  window  heroes  of 
the  Buckshot  War."  ^  The  tariff  could  not  be  used  as  an 
issue,  for  its  effects  were  not  yet  felt  and  the  state  Demo- 
crats had  supported  the  measure.  The  failure  of  the  Demo- 
crats to  support  the  distribution  bill  was  condemned,  as 
now  the  taxpayer  would  be  forced  to  bear  still  heavier 
burdens.*     The  ensuing  election  gave  control  of  both  housesi 

•  United  States  Gazette,  July  8,  1842. 

'Correspondence  in  the  North  American,  September  13,  15,  17,  1842. 

*  The  Keystone,  September  28,  1842. 

-*  United  States  Gazette,  October  7,  1842. 


33 1 ]  YEARS  OF  TRIUMPH  AND  TRIBULATION  85 

by  safe  majorities  to  the  Democrats/  The  United  States, 
Gazette  felt  called  upon  gloomily  to  insist  that  the  election 
indicated  that  the  people  of  the  state  had  declared  against 
a  tariff.^  ' 

Upon  the  assembling  of  the  legislature  the  financial  situa- 
tion was  reviewed  by  Governor  Porter  in  his  message.  As 
previously,  so  now,  he  urged  greater  recourse  to  taxation 
in  order  that  the  state  might  have  at  its  disposal  adequate 
funds  to  be  used  for  the  reduction  of  the  state  debt. 
Howe\'er,  he  now  recommended  a  specific  measure  to  con- 
sist of  a  levy  of  a  few  cents  a  ton  on  the  iron  ore  and  coal 
mined  within  the  state,  assuming  that  this  would  not  be 
heavy  enough  to  cause  increased  importations.^  The 
Whigs  directed  their  objections  to  this  feature  of  the  mes- 
sage. The  North  American  contended  that  since  the  Penn- 
sylvania delegation  in  Congress  had  exerted  itself  "  to 
have  a  duty  laid  upon  foreign  Coal  and  Iron,  it  seems  hardly 
consistent  to  tax  these  same  articles  so  as  to  make  foreign 
competition  the  more  easy."  *  The  whole  proposition  met 
with  the  hearty  condemnation  of  the  Miners'  Journal  which 
held  that  coal  and  iron  were  already  highly  taxed  as  land. 
Furthermore,  the  state  debt  was  due  to  the  construction 
of  the  internal  improvements,  which  were  of  little  value 
to  the  mining  interests,  for  of  the  million  tons  of  coal 
shipped  in  1842  from  the  Schuylkill,  Lehigh  and  Lacka- 
wanna regions  only  one  fifth  was  carried  on  the  state  works. ^ 

The  efforts  which  were  made  to  pass  a  bill  laying  a  ton- 

^  Ibid.,  January  4.   1843;  the  Democrats  had  nineteen  of  the  thirty- 
three  senators  and  sixty-one  of  the  one  hundred  representatives. 
*  Ibid.,  October  31,  1842. 

^Pennsylvania  Archives,  series  iv,  vol.  vi,  pp.  920,  et  seq. 
<  January  5,  1843. 
•January  14,  1843. 


86  THE  WHIG  PARTY  IN  PENNSYLVANIA  [332 

nage  tax  on  coal  and  iron  ore  met  with  insurmountable  op- 
position. Consequently  scrip,  as  in  1842,  had  to  be  relied 
on  to  provide  funds  for  the  pa)Tnent  of  the  interest  on  the 
public  debt.^  The  governor  recommended  that  the  state 
debt  be  decreased  by  the  proceeds  from  the  sale  of  the  state- 
owned  stocks  in  various  corporations.  Without  much  dif- 
ficulty, an  act  authorizing  their  sale  was  passed.  Pur- 
chasers were  allowed  to  make  payment  with  the  certificates 
of  debt,  which  had  been  issue  by  the  auditor-general.  The 
result  was  that  little  money  found  its  way  into  the  state 
treasury,  although  the  debt  was  somewhat  reduced  by  the 
redemption  of  the  certificates. - 

Within  the  state  the  Democratic  party  underwent  the 
same  experience  that  the  Whig  party  had  undergone  nation- 
ally, in  that  the  executive  whom  it  had  elected  was  not  in 
harmony  with  the  Democratic  legislature.  Early  in  Jan- 
uar}',  the  sheriff  of  Philadelphia  died.  Governor  Porter 
appointed  his  own  son  to  fill  the  vacancy,  which  appoint- 

^  Worthington,  Finances  of  Pennsylvania,  p.  57. 

'  In  his  message  of  1842,  Governor  Porter  stated  that  the  par  value 
of  the  state-ou'ned  stock  was  $6,134,074.45.  The  market  value  of  it 
had  been  steadily  decreasing.  A  share  of  stock  in  the  Bank  of  Penn- 
sylvania, par  value  $400,  sold  in  1839  ior  $496,  in  1840  for  $410,  in 
1841  for  $412,  and  in  1842  for  $160;  in  1843  the  state  disposed  of  its 
shares,  for  prices  ranging  from  $140  to  $187.25.  From  June  to 
October,  1843,  sales  of  state-owned  stocks  were  held.  For  the  stocks, 
which  proved  saleable,  $1,319,730.65  were  received;  stocks  with  a 
par  value  of  $1,986,797.56  could  not  be  sold.  Pennsylvania  Archives, 
series  iv,  vol.  vi,  pp.  821-839;  House  Journal,  1844,  pp.  28-46.  Under 
the  authority  of  the  act  of  June  12,  1878,  the  amount  of  state-owned 
stock  was  reduced  to  a  par  value  of  $501,454.62;  Rcfiort  of  the  Auditor- 
General,  1882,  p.  238.  The  greater  portion  of  this  still  remains  un- 
sold; the  auditor-general  today  reports  state-owned  stock  to  a  par 
value  of  $432,884.62;  ibid.,  1917,  9.  31.  The  state-constructed  and  state- 
owned  canals  and  railroads  had  cost  $35,096,671.18.  When  they  were 
sold,  under  authority  of  the  acts  of  May  16,  1857,  and  April  21,  1858, 
only  $10,981,500  were  received  for  them;  ibid.,  iS^o,  p.  114. 


^33]  YEARS  OF  TRIUMPH  AXD  TRIBULATION  87 

ment  openly  started  the  breach  between  the  governor  and 
his  party.^  The  rearrangement  of  his  cabinet  by  President 
Tyler  widened  the  breach  when  he  appointed  James  M. 
Porter,  a  brother  of  the  governor,  ad  interim  Secretary  of 
War.  Of  the  sixty-nine  Democratic  papers  in  the  state  all 
save  twelve,  which  were  controlled  either  by  his  appointees 
or  by  his  brother,  abandoned  the  governor.-  The  Penn- 
sylvanian  was  particularly  sharp  in  its  criticisms,  saying, 

Were  the  people  to  be  purchased  thus,  they  would  sell  them- 
selves cheaply  indeed.  This  junction  of  the  two  administra- 
tions, with  all  the  influences  they  can  bring  to  bear,  will  neither 
transfer  the  people  on  the  one  hand  to  sustain  Mr.  Tyler  for 
the  presidency  nor  governor  Porter  for  the  vice-presidency, 
nor  will  it  serve  to  distract  and  divide  the  party  in  1844.  Such 
chaffering  and  peddling,  first  of  the  offices  of  the  people  them- 
selves, for  the  benefit  of  two  famUies,  will  create  an  emotion  of 
just  anger  not  easily  to  be  tranquilized." 

Charges  of  an  endeavor  to  establish  Porterism  as  the  equal 
and  partner  of  Tylerism  abounded. 

A  strong  point  of  attack  on  Porter  vvas  his  unabated  use 
of  the  veto.  An  ajct  dividing  the  state  into  congressional 
districts,  which  he  approved,  w^as  secured  after  several 
vetoes.*  His  veto  of  the  bill,  providing  for  the  election 
of  the  canal  commissioners  by  the  legislature,  was  effective 

•  The  Pentisylvamaii,  which  was  attacking  Porter,  was  answered  by 
the  Spirit  of  the  Times,  which  on  February  15,  1843,  said  "that  this 
whole  estabhshment  with  the  Brokers,  Auctioneers,  BulHes,  Pawn- 
brokers,' Lawj'crs,  Job  Printers,  and  others  who  have  control  over  it, 
are  about  to  make  one  grand  leap — to  turn  a  complete  somersault — 
and  come  down  in  the  middle  of  the  Whig  Senate  camp." 

*  The  Keystone,  May  10,  1843,  quoted  in  Miles'  Register,  vol.  Ixiv,  p. 
179- 

'  Quoted  in  Niles*  Register,  vol.  Ixiv.  p.  44. 
*!iession  Laws,  1843.  p.  ii5- 


88  THE  WHIG  PARTY  IN  PENNSYLVANIA  [334 

despite  the  fact  that  a  number  of  the  Democrats  combined 
with  the  Whigs  in  an  effort  to  overcome  it.  The  governor 
maintained  that  "  the  election  or  appointment  of  the  Canal 
Commissioners  belongs  only  to  the  Executive  or  to  the 
people,  and  cannot  be  vested  in  the  Legislature  without  a 
gross  usurpation  of  power."  ^  A  bill  providing  for  their 
election  by  the  people  became  effective  despite  the  opposition 
of  the  governor.-  Not  only  the  governor  but  also  the  De- 
mocracy was  condemned  for  beginning 

the  experiment  of  arraying  the  nominally  poor  against  the 
ostensibly  rich.  The  former  being  a  majority  in  the  American, 
as  in  every  other  nation,  it  was  prudently  determined  to  win 
their  affections.  The  hue  and  cry  against  aristocracy  was  suc- 
cessful, so  far  that  the  polity,  stigmatized  as  aristocratic,  was 
abandoned  for  a  succession  of  schemes,  all  opposite  in  their 
nature,  but  all  acceptable,  under  the  name  of  democratic.^ 

The  "  temperate  conservatism  "  of  the  Whigs  was  needed 
to  save  the  country  "  when  innovation  is  stalking  so  fiercely 
abroad." ' 

The  elections  to  be  held  in  the  fall  of  1843  were  of  un- 
usual importance,  for,  in  addition  to  members  of  the  state 
legislature.  Congressmen  and,  for  the  first  time,  canal  com- 
missioners were  to  be  chosen.  Into  the  election  the  Whigs 
made  efforts  to  prevent  the  presidential  question  from  en- 
tering. It  was  quite  probable  that  Clay  would  be  the  choice 
of  the  Whig  national  convention,  called  for  May  3,  1844. 
He  had  been  endorsed  as  the  preference  of  the  state  at  a 
mass  convention  held  at  Harrisburg  on  February  22,  1843.^ 

1  Pennsylvania  Archives^  series  iv,  vol.  \  i,  p.  979. 
'Session  Laws,  1843,  p.  ^37- 

*  North  American,  April  15,  1843. 

*  Ibid.,  March  16,  1843. 

*  Pubht  Ledger,  February  24,  1843. 


335]  YEARS  OF  TRIUMPH  AND  TRIBULATION  89 

There  existed  some  fear  that  McLean  might  be  used  "  by 
the  remnants  of  the  New  York  dique,  which  made  a  stalk- 
ing horse  of  the  manly  form  of  Scott"  in  1839,  and  thus 
Clay  might  be  defeated/  Tyler  caused  little  concern,  for 
his  attempts  to  control  the  Whig  party  had  failed  dismally, 
and  his  advances  to  the  Democrats  were  being  scorned.^ 
Tyler  was  declared  to  stand  in  such  poor  favor  that  the 
reception  accorded  him  by  the  people  in  his  journey  to  the 
dedication  of  the  Bunker  Hill  monument  was  characterized 
as  "  cool  and  dignified."  ^ 

On  the  other  hand,  some  of  the  former  proscriptive 
leaders  of  the  x\nti-Masonic  party,  who  had  not  been  ad- 
mitted to  a  position  of  influence  in  the  Whig  ranks,  threat- 
ened trouble.  They  too  had  held  a  state  mass  convention 
and  had  declared  themselves  favorable  to  Scott.  To  use 
the  committee,  appointed  at  this  convention,  would  dis- 
credit their  movement.  They  therefore  resorted  to  the 
committee,  which  in  1841  had  had  charge  of  the  campaign 
of  Banks  for  governor  and  which  was  subject  to  their  in- 
fluence. This  committee  on  May  17,  1843,  issued  a  call 
for  a  convention  of  the  ''Democratic  Harrison  Party"  to 
assemble  on  September  6  to  make  nominations  for  canal 
commissioners.*  This  was  an  effort  to  block  the  endorse- 
ment of  Qay  by  the  Whigs  and,  at  the  same  time,  to  disrupt 
the  organization  which  had  been  perfected  at  the  Clay  con- 
vention of  February  22.^ 

^  United  States  Gazette,  May  12,  1843. 

'^  North  American,  May  12,  1843. 

'Ibid.,  June  14,  1843. 

^Pennsylvania  Tclegraf^h,  July  4,  1843. 

5  Egle,  Notes  and  Queries,  1896,  p.  146;  in  a  letter,  dated  May  20, 
1843,  to  John  Strohm,  John  A.  Fisher  condemned  Uie  movement  "  in 
toto,  and  see  in  it,  if  assented  to,  or  recognized  by  us,  the  virtual 
triumph  of  that  cUque  of  boW,  bad  men  whose  motto  is  rule  or  ruin." 


^O  THE  WHIG  PARTY  IN  PENNSYLVANIA  [336 

The  directing  genius  of  this  movement  to  block  the  en- 
dorsement of  Clay  was  Thaddeus  Stevens,  who  in  1842  had 
moved  to  Lancaster  from  Gettysburg.  In  Lancaster  and 
Allegheny  counties,  the  proscriptive  Anti-Masons  had  been 
maintaining  an  independent  organization.  On  August  30, 
1843,  the  "Anti-Masonic  and  Whig"  convention  for  the 
county  met  at  Lancaster  to  choose  delegates  for  the  state 
convention  of  September  6.  The  delegates  chosen  at  this 
county  convention  were  instructed  to  withdraw,  if  the 
Stevens  delegation,  which  had  been  chosen  at  an  "  Anti- 
Masonic  "  county  convention,  received  any  recognition  at  the 
state  convention.^  At  the  state  convention  the  committee  on 
contested  delegations  rejected  Stevens  and  his  associates.' 
This  faction,  however,  ran  its  own  ticket  in  Lancaster 
county.  The  same  thing  was  done  also  in  Allegheny 
county,  from  which  no  contesting  delegation  had,  however, 
been  sent  to  the  state  convention.''  In  the  other  counties 
of  the  state  the  former  Anti-Masons  gave  the  Whig  party 
their  undivided  allegiance,  and  the  effort  to  revive  political 
Anti-Masonry  for  the  elections  of  this  year  failed. 

In  the  election  campaign  no  distinctive  issue  was  raised. 
The  more  effective  organization  of  the  Democrats  gave 
them  the  three  canal  commissioners  by  a  majority  of  over 
fourteen  thousand  in  a  total  vote  of  two  hundred  and  seven 
thousand.*  The  Democrats  now  held  twenty-two  of  the 
thirty-three  seats  in  the  sitate  senate,  and  fifty-eight  of  the 
one  hundred  in  the  house.^     Sufficient  importance  had  not 

*  United  States  Gazette,   September   i ;  Public  Ledger,  September  2, 
1843- 

^  North  American,  September  9,  1843. 

*  Daily  Forum,  quoted  in  Niks'  Register,  vol.  Ixv,  p.  169,  for  the  re- 
turns from  these  two  counties. 

*l\orth  American,  October  24,  1843. 

^Public  Ledger,  January  2,  1844. 


337]  YEARS  OF  TRIUMPH  AND  TRIBULATION  91 

been  attached  to  the  election  by  the  Whigs,  as  was  shown 
by  the  fact  that  in  some  districts  of  Schuylkill  county  bal- 
lots for  the  Whig  candidates  had  not  been  printed.'  The 
Democrats  secured  only  twelve  of  the  twenty-four  Congress- 
men, inasmuch  as  the  Whigs  had  combined  with  dissatisfied 
Democrats  in  some  of  the  congressional  districts  and  had 
elected  volunteer  Democrats,  who  expressly  declared  for  a 
protective  tariff. 

y  .  I'^'sf^    ^Miners' Journal,  October  :S,  1843. 


CHAPTER  III 

Texas  and  the  Tariff 

1 844- 1 846. 

As  soon  as  the  elections  of  1843  were  past,  plans  were 
made  for  the  ensuing  presidential  campaign.  The  Demo- 
crats of  the  state,  imder  the  control  of  Buchanan,  pledged 
their  support  to  him.  But  on  December  19,  1843,  before 
the  meeting  of  the  state  convention,  Buchanan  in  a  letter, 
published  in  the  Lancaster  Intelligencer,  withdrew  his  name 
as  a  candidate  for  the  presidency.^  He  did  this  because  he 
received  no  support  in  other  states,  the  majority  of  which 
were  already  pledged  to  Van  Buren."  The  sentiment  of  tJie 
Democracy  in  the  state  was  by  no  means  strongly  in  favor 
of  Van  Buren,  nevertheless  the  Democratic  state  conven- 
tion, at  Harrisburg  on  March  4.  1844,  pledged  its  delegates 
to  him  for  the  presidency  and  to  R.  M.  Johnson  for  the 
vice-presidency.  After  a  sharp  contest  the  convention  nomi- 
nated Henry  A.  Muhlenberg,  the  anti-Wolf  Democratic 
candidate  in  1835,  for  governor.*  On  August  10,  before 
the  election,  Muhlenberg  died  suddenly  at  his  home  in  Read- 
ing. The  Democratic  state  central  committee  reconvoked 
the  convention,  which,  on  September  2,  nominated  Francis 
R.  Shunk,  who  had  been  the  opponent  of  Muhlenberg  at 
the  first  convention.*     Shunk  was  the  inevitable  choice  of 

^  Moore,  The  Works  of  James  Buchanan,  vol.  v,  p.  437. 
"^  Ibid.,  vol.  vi,  p.  I. 

*  Public  Ledger,  March  6,  7,  8;  North  American^  March  8,  1844. 

*  Fublic  Ledger,  August  15,  September  4,  1844. 

92  [.338 


339]  TEXAS  AND  THE  TARIFF  93 

the  Democrats  at  their  second  convention.  His  friend- 
ship with  the  Porters  tended  to  hold  that  faction  to  the  party. 
Furthermore,  the  party  owed  him  a  debt  of  gratitude  for 
the  firmness  displayed  during  the  Buckshot  War,  when  as 
clerk  of  the  house  he  had  been  the  chief  instrument  in 
thwarting  the  machinations  O'f  the  Whigs  and  Anti-Masons. 
He  was  strongly  opposed  to  special  grants,  and  consequently 
would  continue  the  policy  of  his  predecessor.  A  contem- 
porary eulogist  stated, 

The  tendency  of  capital  to  accumulate  in  the  hands  of  the  few, 
the  power  which  it  always  wields,  the  antagonism  between  it 
and  labor,  and  the  encroachment  of  the  former  on  the  just 
rights  of  the  latter,  even  under  the  best  administration  of  the 
most  equitable  laws,  he  regarded  as  one  of  the  dangers  of 
republics.^ 

Such  views  appealed  particularly  to  the  masses  in  the  in- 
terior of  the  state.  Shunk  had,  however,  continuously 
held  public  office  since  early  manhood.  His  opponents 
sharply  contrasted  his  career  with  that  of  their  non-office- 
holding  candidate. 

On  December  8,  1843,  there  appeared  a  call,  signed  by 
the  members  of  the  Harrison  state  central  committee,  for  a 
"  Democratic  Harrison  Convention  "  to  meet  at  Harrisburg* 
on  March  4,  1844.-  The  committee  appointed  in  1841  to 
conduct  the  election  for  governor  was  the  only  anti-De- 
mocratic state  organization  which  had  any  regularity  to  its 
existence.  Since  that  year,  there  had  been  no  general  state 
election  save  that  for  canal  commissioners.  The  only  other 
way  in  which  a  call  for  a  state  convention  might  come 
would  be  from  the  members  of  the  legislature.     As  this 

•  DeWitt,   A    Discourse   on    the   Life   and   Character   of   Francis   R. 
Shunk,  late  Governor  of  Pennsylvania,  delivered  August  9,  1S4S,  p.  23. 

*  North  American,  December  11,  1843. 


94  THE  WHIG  PARTY  IN  PENNSYLVANIA  [340 

body  did  not  assemble  until  January,  the  call  might  have 
come  too  late  for  the  convention  to  meet  at  the  customary 
time.  Furthermore,  the  name  of  Harrison  still  had  an 
attraction  for  many  former  Anti-Masons.  Some  of  them, 
led  by  Thumas  H.  Burrowes,  were  not  reconciled  to  the 
disappearance  of  political  Anti-Masonry,  and  were 
threatening  trouble.  In  November,  1843,  they  questioned 
Clay  about  his  views  on  Masonry  and  about  his  membership 
in  that  organization.  Clay  replied  that  he  "  became  a  mason 
in  early  life,  from  youthful  curiosity  and  a  social  disposi- 
tion," but  that  he  never  took  any  high  degrees,  that  he  wasi 
not  a  member  at  the  time,  and  that  he  never  voted  for  any- 
one because  he  was  a  Mason. ^  Nothing  definite  came  from 
this  agitation,  but  fear  of  the  Anti-Masons  led  to  the  sug- 
gestion that  inasmuch  as  "  Harrisonism  in  Penna.  ...  is 
per  se  strong  "  it  would  be  well  to  identify  the  Whig  cause 
in  the  state  with  it.  Care  should  be  taken  to  fill  the  Har- 
rison counties  with  Whig  almanacs  and  songs  and  to  im- 
press upon  the  voters  "  that  if  it  is  not  for  Harrison  they 
are  fighting,  it  is  against  Harrison's  enemies.  If  we  can 
even  to  a  tolerable  extent  raise  this  feeling,  and  then  add 
to  it  a  personal  enthusiasm  for  Mr.  Clay,  and  tariff  prin- 
ciples, our  course  is  far  from  impro|)itious."  It  might  be 
"  expedient  to  take  up  the  Harrison  Electoral  ticket  defying* 
our  adversaries  to  do  the  same."  "  The  Anti-Masonic  ir- 
reconcilables  made  no  headway  with  their  movement,  which 
practically  marked  the  end  of  their  efforts  to  form  an  in- 
dependent party  by  breaking  away  from  the  Whigs.' 

^  Niles'  Register,  vol.  Ixv,  p.  244.    . 

2  William  B.  I\ced  to  John  M.  Clayton,  December  18,  1843;  Claytoa 
Papers,  Lib.  of  Cong. 

*  The  decadence  of  the  power  of  the  Anti-Masons  is  illustrated  in 
Allegheny  county.  In  the  congressional  election  of  1843,  the  straight 
Anti-Masonic  candidate  received  over  2200  votes.     In  a  special  election 


341  ]  TEXAS  AND  THE  TARIFF  95 

When  the  "  Democratic  Harrison  State  Convention,"  as 
some  of  the  former  iVnti-Alasons  called  it,  or  the  "  Whig  " 
state  convention,  as  the  resolutions  had  it,  met,  no  great 
opposition  to  the  endorsement  of  Henry  Clay  as  the  next 
presidential  cajididate  developed.  It  took  twenty-two  bal- 
lots, however,  to  select  Joseph  Markle,  of   Westmoreland 

in  March,  1844,  the  same  individual  received  only  6co  votes ;  Niles" 
Register,  vol.  Ixvi,  p.  80.  Thomas  H.  Burrowes,  who  had  been  chair- 
man of  the  Harrison  state  central  committee  in  18140  and  who  hadi 
been  active  in  trying  to  keep  Anti-<Masonry  alive,  on  March  i,  18144, 
wrote  Joseph  Wallace,  ''  I  never  was — am  not — and  never  will  be  a 
Whig.  Ergo  I  must  be  and  am  a  Locofoco,  because  antimasonry 
being  now  extinct  even  to  the  last  spark,  I  have  no  other  party  to 
go  to,  and  vote  I  will  while  possessed  of  strength  to  go  to  the) 
polls."  William  McPherson  Mss.  Care  was  taken  not  to  oiTend  the 
former  Anti-Masons.  In  the  counties  in  which  they  had  been  strong,, 
the  conventions  were  called  "  Whig  and  Anti-Masonic "  or  "  .Anti- 
^lasonic  and  Whig,"  at  times  with  the  word  "  Democratic "  prefixed 
to  the  phrase;  Lancaster  Union  and  Tribune,  January  19,  1847; 
Butler  Whig,  September  9,  1846;  Pittsburgh  Gazette,  September  20, 
1S49.  This  nomenclature  was  continued  in  Allegheny  county  as  latd 
as  1852;  Daily  Commercial  Journal,  Deceml)er  n,  1853.  This  was  not 
merely  the  survival  of  a  name,  but  represented  a  strong  sentiment. 
On  June  3,  1846,  for  example,  the  "  An ti- Masonic  and  Whig"  con- 
vention of  Allegheny  county  "  Resolved,  That  we  are  utterly  opposed 
to  all  secret  oath-bound  societies,  believing  their  existence  in  our 
midst  contrary  to  the  spirit  of  and  fraught  with  danger  to  our  free 
institutions,  and  that  we  highly  approve  of  the  resistance  made  by  our 
members  of  the  Legislature  last  winter,  to  the  chartering  of  Odd 
Fellows  Associations."  Daily  Commercial  Journal,  June  5,  1846.  It 
was  deemed  worthy  of  mention  that  in  a  Masonic  parade,  held  later  in 
the  same  month,  many  Democrats  but  few  Whigs  were  seen  march- 
ing; ibid.,  June  25,  1846.  In  1850,  the  Democrats  asserted  that  the 
Whig  candidate  for  Congress  from  this  district  was  a  Mason.  To 
this  charge  the  Whigs  replied,  "  Mr.  Howe,  we  are  pleased  to  state, 
is  not  now,  and  never  has  been,  a  member  of  any  secret  society 
whatsoever."  I'lttsburgk  Gazette,  July  4,  1850.  In  this  same  election, 
it  was  contended  that  membership  in  Odd  Fellows  Associations  caused 
the  defeat  of  candidates  in  Allegheny  and  Indiana  counties;  ibid., 
October  18.  1850.  As  late  as  1876,  there  were  cast  S3  votes  for  the 
"Anti-Masonic  Ticket";  Smull's  Legislative  Hattd-Book,  1879,  p.  311. 


gS  THE  WHIG  PARTY  IN  PENNSYLVANIA  [342 

county,  as  the  gubernatorial  candidate.  As  Markle  had 
never  held  public  office,  little  was  known  of  his  political 
views.  This  was  held  to  be  offset  by  the  fact  that  he  "  was 
fresh  from  the  ranks  of  the  people  "  and  was  "  earning  hig 
bread  by  the  sweat  of  his  brow."  He  had  volunteered  for 
one  of  the  Indian  wars  and  since  then  been  elected  a  major- 
general  in  the  Pennsylvania  militia.  What  military  glory 
could  be  derived  from  the  fact  that  "  at  the  battle  of  Missis- 
sinewa,  and  at  the  sortie  oif  Fort  Meigs,  he  led  the  fight,  and 
slew  the  enemy  with  his  OAvn  hand  "  was  derived.^  One  of 
the  Democratic  journals  asserted  that  Markle  "  was  taken  up 
for  a  sort  of  Tippecanoe  rusher — his  services  in  the  wars 
being  considered  sufficient  to  raise  a  strong  breeze  of 
patriotism  in  his  favor."  ^ 

Political  events  were  so  shaping  themselves  that  more  in- 
terest was  to  be  displayed  in  national  than  in  state  issues. 
Tyler,  abominated  by  all  loyal  party  men,  was  moving  to 
secure  the  annexation  of  Texas  to  the  United  States,  a 
plan  which  met  with  the  hostility  of  the  Whigs  within  the 
state.  The  North  American  asserted  that  the  Whigs  were 
ready  to  abide  by  the  compromises  of  the  Constitution  on 
slavery,  but  that  they  would  prefer  to  sacrifice  the  integrity 
of  the  Union  rather  than  extend  the  power  of  the  South. 
Continuing,  it  said, 

In  any  aspect,  the  annexation  of  Texas  would  be  a  monstrous 
folly  and  fraud.  Any  alternative  would  be  preferable.  Were 
slavery  out  of  the  question,  there  is  reason  enough  to  oppose 
the  scheme  upon  the  simple  ground  that  the  territory  of  the 
United  States  is  already  sufficiently  large  and  unwieldy — 
sufficiently  varied  in  climate  and  products  to  make  common 
legislation  for  the  equal  benefit  of  its  whole  extent  extremely 
difficult,  if  not  wholly  impossible.^ 

•  Femxsylvania  Telegraph,  March  6,  1844. 

*  Spirit  of  the  Times,  March  7,  1844. 
•November  24,  1843. 


343]  TEXAS  AND  THE  TARIFF  97 

The  United  States  Gazette  declared  its  opposition  to  the 
proposal  because  the  slave  area  would  be  increased. 
The  proposed  plan  was  declared  to  be  not  a  national,  nor  a 
Whig,  nor  a  Democratic  measure,  but  a  mere  Tyler 
scheme/ 

When  a  treaty  of  annexation  was  submitted  to  the  senate, 
the  administration  forces  attempted  to  create  a  favorable 
public  sentiment.  Secreary  of  War  Wilkins,  in  an  open 
letter  to  his  former  coinstituents  in  the  Allegheny  county 
congressional  district,  pointed  out  what  the  loss  to  the 
industries  in  and  around  Pittsburgh  would  be.  if  the  treaty 
failed.-  Through  the  efforts  of  the  Democrats  a  resolution 
against  annexation  was  defeated  in  the  house  of  the  Penn- 
sylvania legislature.^  Wider  publicity  to  the  question  was 
given  by  the  letters  of  Clay  and  Van  Buren.^  The  pro- 
jection of  the  Texas  question  into  the  pre-convention  cam- 

'  April  I,  1&44.  This  aUitude  was  reflected  in  some  of  the  1844 
campaign  songs.  One  of  the  "  Annexation  War  Songs ",  to  the 
time  of  "Yankee  Doodle"  printed  in  the  Pennsylvania  Telegraph, 
July  3.  1844,  from  the  Whig  Standard,  opens  as  follows : 

"  Come  one,  come  all !  sound  drum  and  fife — 

The  loud  tin  trumpet  blowing; 
For  Texas,  plunder,  and  all  that 

Our    martial    band    is    going. 
Who  cares  for  what  the  world  may  say? 

John  Tyler  says  we're  right,  sirs, 
We'll  grab  the  land  of  Mexico, 

Or  else  we'll  have  a  fight,  sirs. 

Cho.     Then  shoulder  muskets,  one  and  all, 
Hurrah !  for  war  and  plunder. 
We'll  wave  our  bunting  o'er  their  heads. 
And  give  them   Tyler  thunder." 
'Letter  of  April  13,  1844,  Niles'  Register,  vol.  Ixvi,  p.  118. 
^  House  Journal,  1844.  vol.  i.  pp.  536,  et  seq.;  p.  869. 
*  Clay's   letter   of  April    17,    1844;    Van    Buren's   letter   of    .\pril   JO, 
1844;  Niks'  Register,  vol.  Ixvi,  pp.  152-157. 


gg  THE  WHIG  PARTY  IN  PENNSYLVANIA  [344 

paign  resulted  in  the  rejection  of  Van  Buren  and  the  nomi- 
nation of  Polk  by  the  Democratic  national  convention  at 
Baltimore,  which  assembled  on  May  27,  1844/  Polk,  im- 
mediately declared  for  "  the  re-annexation  of  Texas  to 
the  territory  and  government  of  the  United  States."  This 
position  was  strengthened  by  a  letter  from  ex-President 
Jackson,  whose  opinion  carried  great  weight  in  all  parts  of 
Pennsylvania."  The  leader  of  the  Pennsylvania  Democrats 
in  the  lower  House  of  Congress,  C.  J.  Ingersoll,  deemed 
"  it  most  peaceable  and  safe  to  declare  at  once,  beyond  the 
Monroe  and  Adams  position,  not  only  that  we  shall  not  like, 
but  that  we  will  not  suffer,  European  encroachment  in,  at 
any  rate,  the  northern  parts  of  the  American  hemisphere."  ^ 
The  Whig  convention,  which  assembled  on  May  i  at 
Baltimore,  nominated  Clay  and  Frelinghuysen.*  Meeting" 
at  Baltimore  at  the  same  time  as  the  regular  Democratic 
convention  was  a  body  calling  itself  the  "  Tyler  Democratic 
National  Convention."  Tliis  body  had  intended  to  await 
the  action  of  the  regular  Democratic  convention,  in  the  hope 
that  it  might  be  induced  to  support  Tyler.  But  as  the  ses- 
sions of  the  regular  Democratic  convention  became  pro- 
tracted and  no  intention  of  nominating  Tyler  was  evidenced, 
the  "  Tyler  Democratic  National  Convention "  performed 
its  duty  by  placing  Tyler  in  nomination,  but  adjourned 
without  naming  a  running  mate.^  The  North  Amcricam 
sneered  at  this  convention  as  the  "  Loaves'  and  Fishes'  Con- 

"^  Niks'  Register,  vol.  Ixvi,  pp.  211-218. 

-  Polk's  letter  of  April  23;  Jackson's  of  May  13,  1844;  ibid.,  vol.  Ixvi,. 
p.  228. 

•Letter  of  September  4,  1844;  ibid.,  vol.  Ixvii,  p.  167. 

*Ibid.,  vol.  Ixvi,  p.  178. 

^Ibid.,  vol.  Ixvi,  p.  221. 


345]  TEXAS  AND  THE  TARIFF  gg 

vention."  ^  Tyler  kept  his  name  before  the  public  until 
August  20,  when  it  was  withdrawn.^ 

The  Whigs  of  Pennsylvania  heartily  endorsed  the  posi- 
tion of  Clay  on  the  annexation  question.  Before  the  treaty 
of  annexation  was  defeated  on  June  8,  1844,  their  condem- 
nation was  reserv'ed  chiefly  for  Tyler,  whose  course  was 
characterized  as  a  plot.     The  North  American  said, 

If  impeachment  will  reach  the  presumptuous  demagogue,  who 
has  dared,  without  consulting  popular  will,  to  place  the 
country  in  a  warlike  attitude  towards  a  neighboring  Republic, 
with  which  we  are  or  should  be  at  peace,  if  impeachment  will 
reach  the  author  of  this  outrage,  we  trust  the  process  may 
be  instantly  begun.  What  is  this  government  coming  to,  if 
its  accidental  head  may  upon  his  own  responsibility,  order 
troops  and  vessels  to  be  placed  at  the  disposal  of  a  foreign 
power,  and  for  the  purpose  of  sustaining  a  war  with  a  third 
power,  without  the  semblance  of  a  rightful  course !  ^ 

The  campaign  in  the  state  was  not,  however,  to  be  fought 
on  the  question  of  the  annexation  of  Texas,  since  the  citizens 
of  the  state  were  more  deeply  concerned  over  the  mainten- 
ance of  the  tariff  rates  established  by  the  act  of  1842. 

The  business  depression  of  1837,  followed  by  the  bank- 
ing problems  within  the  state,  by  the  dispute  on  the  proper 
method  of  liquidating  the  state  debt  and  meeting  the  interest 
thereon,  was  largely  spent  when  the  Tariff  Act  of  1842  was 
passed.     Following  hard  upon  the  passage  of  the  act  had 

'June  4,  1844. 

^Niles'  Register,  vol.  Ixvi,  p.  416. 

*May  17,  1844.  Chancellor  Kent  of  New  York  had  "no  doubt 
that  the  enormous  abuses  and  stretch  of  power  by  President  Tyler 
afford  ample  materials  for  the  exercise  of  the  power  of  impeachment, 
and  an  imperative  duty  in  the  House  of  Representatives  to  put  it  in 
practice."  Letter  of  May  21,  1844,  to  H.  J.  Raymond;  Xortit  American, 
May  29,  1844. 


lOO  THE  WHIG  PARTY  IN  PENNSYLVANIA  [346 

come  a  business  revival,  noticeable  particularly  in  the  iron 
industry.  Old  furnaces  were  again  put  into  blast  and  new^ 
ones  erected.  The  first  successful  anthracite  furnace  wasi 
constructed  in  1840  in  Lehigh  county.^  This  was  followed 
by  the  construction  of  other  furnaces  of  the  same  type  in 
the  eastern  part  of  the  state,  chiefly  in  Luzerne  and  Col- 
umbia counties,  which  were  strongholds  of  the  Democracy.^ 
The  attitude  of  the  citizens  of  the  state,  regardless  of 
party  affiliation,  on  the  tariff  question  is  clearly  reflected  in 
a  letter  of  Hendrick  B.  Wright,  who  was  later  chosen  per- 
manent chairman  of  the  national  Democratic  convention  of 
1844.  From  his  home  at  Wilkes-Barre,  under  date  of 
January  23,  1844,  he  wrote  Buchanan  that  the  only  objec- 
tion to  Van  Buren  is  that 

he  is  too  ultra  anti-tariff  to  suit  the  meridian  of  Penna.  politicks. 
.  .  .  There  is,  Sir,  a  revolution  in  Penna.  on  the  question  of 
protective  &  discriminating  duties  and  the  invasion  of  the 
doctrine  on  our  old  land  marks  of  tariff  for  revenue — is 
signal — and  our  creed  must  be  tempered  to  the  times  or  we 
will  find  in  the  end  our  party  in  this  State  will  be  prostrated. 
It  cannot  be  denied.  And  whether  it  be  right  or  wrong — it  is 
enough  for  us  to  know  that  such  is  the  fact.^ 

Governor  Porter,  in  his  annual  message  of  1844,  again 

'  Swank,  Progressive  Pennsylvania,  p.  278.  There  had  been  con- 
structed an  anthracite  furnace  the  year  before  at  Pottsville;  United 
States  Commercial  and  Statistical  Register,  vol.  i,  pp.  335,  352. 

*  Daily  Chronicle,  May  14,  1844. 

*  Buchanan  Mss.  A  state  Democratic  convention,  favorable  to  R.  M- 
Johnson,  under  the  chairmanship  of  Simon  Cameron  had  "  Resolved, 
that  the  democratic  party  of  Pennsylvania  is  in  favor  of  a  Tariff — 
that  one  of  the  cardinal  principles  of  the  democratic  creed  has  been 
the  protection  of  American  industry,  and  that  opposition  to  that 
principle  of  national  policy  will  receive,  as  it  merits,  the  unqualifiedi 
condemnation  of  every  Pennsylvania  democrat."  Niles'  Register,  vol. 
Ixv,  p.  371- 


347]  TEXAS  AND  THE  TARIFF  lOi 

discussed  the  need  of  adequate  protection  to  the  industries 
of  the  state. 

If  those  entrusted  with  the  guardianship  of  the  pubHc  welfare, 
[are]  but  true  to  their  trust,  the  day  is  not  far  distant,  when 
Pennsylvania  must  become  the  great  workshop  of  the  American 
Union,  for  the  production  of  coal  and  iron,  and  the  fabrics 
constructed  from  these  materials.  If  these  great  interests  are 
surrendered  to  some  imaginary,  theoretic,  Arcadian  scheme  of 
free  trade,  we  may  still  continue  to  serve  as  hewers  of  wood 
and  drawers  of  water  to  foreign  capitalists  and  artizans,  and 
our  incalculable  mineral  deposites  may  lie  useless  for  ages.  I 
trust,  however,  the  people  of  this  Commonwealth  will  never 
be  seduced  into  a  sacrifice  of  their  dearest  rights.^ 

The  legislature  likewise  reflected  the  same  sentiment  in 
favor  of  a  protective  tariff.  By  a  vote  of  8i  to  o  in  the 
house  and  30  to  i  in  the  senate,  a  resolution,  with  the  yeas 
and  nays  attached,  instructed  the  United  States  Senators 
and  requested  the  Representatives 

to  oppose  any  change  in  the  present  tariff,  which  might  prove 
injurious  to  the  manufacturing  and  agricultural  interests  of 
this  commonwealth,  sternly  to  resist  any  reduction  in  the 
present  duties  on  iron,  coal  and  wool,  and  to  omit  no  effort 
to  sustain  all  the  great  interests  of  the  Nation,  calculated  to 
foster  and  promote  American  industry.^ 

Practical  unanimity  existed  in  the  state  that  the  rates  of 
the  tariff  of  1842  must  be  maintained. 

Early  in  January,  1844.  Congress  made  several  attempts 
to  alter  the  tariff  rates.  These  attempts  according  to  the 
North  American  Avere  "  strangled  by  a  cord  of  which  the 

^Pennsylvania  Archives,  series  iv,  vol.  vi.  pp.  1012-1013.  Porter  l)Oth 
before  and  after  his  two  terms  was  extensively  interested  in  the  iron 
industry,  owning  several  furnaces. 

2  Session  Laws,  1844,  p.  601. 


I02  THE  WHIG  PARTY  IN  PENNSYLVANIA  [348 

Whigs  pull  one  end  and  Van  Burenism  the  other."  ^  The 
continuation  of  the  movement  for  alteration  of  the  rates 
led  the  "  Executive  Committee  of  the  Clay  Association  of 
the  City  and  County  of  Philadelphia  "  to  call  for  March 
25  a  mass  meeting,  which  declared  that  the  tariff  of  1842 
was  a  Whig  measure."  In  the  latter  part  of  April,  the 
national  House  of  Representatives  decided  to  go  into  the 
committee  of  the  whole  to  take  up  the  question  of  revising 
the  tariff.  Not  a  vote  from  Pennsylvania  was  cast  in  favor 
of  the  motion.^  When  in  May  a  motion  was  adopted  to 
table  the  tariff  bill,  the  entire  Pennsylvania  delegation  voted 
for  the  motion.* 

No  sooner  had  Polk  been  nominated  bv  the  Democrats 
than  the  Whigs  in  the  state  made  the  tariff  the  issue  of  the 
campaign.  The  alternative  for  the  manufacturers,  mechan- 
ics, and  farmers  of  Pennsylvania,  it  was  declared,  was 
■"  Texas  and  No  Tariff,  or  Tariff  and  No  Texas."  ^  Polk 
was  immediately  cautioned  by  Democratic  leaders  in  the 
state  to  exercise  great  care  in  his  utterances  on  the  tariff.® 
Acting  on  this  advice,  Polk  wrote  his  famous  letter  of  June 
19,  1844,  to  John  K.  Kane  of  Philadelphia.  This  letter  re- 
ceived wide  publicity  during  the  campagn,  particularly  the 
statement  that  he  was 

in  favor  of  a  tariff  for  revenue,  such  a  one  as  will  yield  a 
sufificient  amount  to  the  treasury  to  defray  the  expenses  of  the 
government,    economically    administered.      In    adjusting    the 

'January  6,  1844. 

*  United  States  Gazette,  March  26,  1844. 

*  Analysis  of  vote,  ibid.,  April  24,  1844. 

*  Analysis  of  vote,  Niks'  Register,  vol.  Ixvi,  p.  177. 

^  North  American,  June  3,  1844. 

-«J.   Miller  to  Polk,   May  31 ;   J.   M.   Porter  to   Polk,  June  5,   1844; 
Polk  Papers,  Lib.  of  Cong. 


349]  TEXAS  AND  THE  TARIFF  103 

details  of  a  revenue  tariff,  I  have  heretofore  sanctioned  such 
moderate  discriminating  duties  as  v^ould  produce  the  amount 
of  revenue  needed,  and  at  the  same  time  afford  reasonable 
incidental  protection  to  our  home  industry.  I  am  opposed 
to  a  tariff'  for  protection  merely,  and  not  for  revenue/ 

This  letter  was  relied  upon  by  the  Democrats  to  refute  the 
Whig  statements  that  Polk  was  a  free  trader  and  to  prove 
that  he  was  in  favor  of  a  stronger  protective  tariff  than 
Clay.  On  August  8,  1844,  Wilson  McCandless.  head  of 
the  Democratic  electoral  ticket,  in  order  to  stop  defections 
from  the  Democratic  ranks  on  account  of  the  tariff  issue, 
wrote  a  letter  to  a  Clarion  county  mass  meeting.  In  it  he 
scored  Clay  for  his  vote  on  the  Ccmprcmise  Tariff  Act,  and 
contended  that  if  Clay  were  elected,  he  would 

carry  out  the  principles  of  that  bill,  and  aft'ord  you  a  hori- 
zontal duty,  to  enable  you  to  contend  with  the  pauper  labor  of 
Sweden  and  Russia.  In  doing  so,  he  would  give  you  and  the 
Tariff  the  same  support  that  the  rope  does  the  hanging  man — 
instant  death,  and  "  without  benefit  of  clergy."  Support  him 
if  you  can — for  my  own  part,  I  shall  go  for  POLK  and 
DALLAS,  who  have  at  heart  the  true  interests  of  Penn- 
sylvania.- 

In  addition  to  these  letters,  which  were  used  extensively, 
Buchanan  was  called  upon  to  tour  the  northern  counties  of 
the  state  to  refute  the  claim  that  the  tariff  of  1842  was  a 
Whig  measure.^  In  many  parts  of  the  state,  the  Demo- 
crats exhibited  banners  bearing  the  legend  "  Polk.  Dallas, 
and  the  Tariff  of  1842."  •* 

'  Miles'  Register,  vol.  Ixvi,  p.  295. 

*  Republished  in  the  Pittsburgh  Gazette,  March  23,  1850. 

..' Wm.  B.  Foster  to  Buchanan,  July  18,  1&44;  Buchanan  Nfss. 

*  United  States  Gazette,  May  14.  1845;  Pennsylvania  Telegraph,  De- 
cember 18,  1844;  Sargent,  Public  Men  and  Events,  vol.  ii.  pp.  2j6,  239. 


I04  TH^  WHIG  PARTY  IN  PENNSYLVANIA  [3-0 

The  ncmination  of  G.  M.  Dallas  to  be  Polk's  running 
mate  caused  some  of  the  Democrats  concern  because  of 
his  unorthodox  position  on  the  bank  question/  The  De- 
mocratic national  convention  resolved  "  that  Congress 
has  no  power  to  charter  a  National  Bank."  -  The  Forum 
of  Philadelphia  pointed  out  the  variance  existing  between 
the  course  of  Dallas  in  Congress  and  this  resolution  of  the 
party. ^  When  the  campaign  was  under  way,  this  issue  was 
eagerly  accepted  by  the  Democrats,  who  were  anxious  to 
keep  the  tariff  question  in  the  background.^  The  real  issue 
of  the  campaign,  however,  remained  the  tariff. 

In  the  meantime,  a  third  party  movement  was  spreading 
in  Philadelphia.  On  November  14,  1842,  the  Roman  Cath- 
olic Bishop  of  Philadelphia  requested  the  school  board 
to  allow  the  use  of  the  Roman  Catholic  version  of  the  Bible 
in  the  public  schools  to  those  of  his  parishioners,  who  were 
attending  them.  On  January  10,  1843,  the  school  board 
adopted  a  resolution  allowing  those  conscientiously  object- 
ing to  the  reading  from  the  Bible  to  be  excused  from  join- 
ing in  the  opening  devotional  exercises.'"'  Inasmuch  as  the 
majority  of  the  Catholics  in  and  about  Philadelphia  were 
Irish,  the  Catholic  religion  appeared  to  be  a  non-American 
'belief.  Encouraged  by  the  success  of  the  Native  American 
party  in  New  York  city,  supporters  of  the  movement  plan- 
ned in   1843   ^o^  the  organization  of  the  party  in  Phila- 

'J.  W.  Forney,  June  11,  1844,  to  Buchanan,  "His  course  on  the 
U.  S.  Bank  question  is  very  questionable,  to  say  the  least,  and  in 
proper  hands  may  operate  vastly  to  our  injury.  Nothing  can  save 
him  but  the  union  and  enthusiasm  which  now  pervade  the  party." 
Buchanan    Mss. 

-  Stanwood,  History  of  the  Presidency,  vol.  i,  pp.  200,  215. 
•Quoted  in  Niles:'  Register,  vol.  Ixvi,  p.  2166. 
*  George  Plitt  to  Buchanan,  September  22,  1844;  Buchanan  Mss. 
'Correspondence  in  North  American,  January  14,  1843. 


35 1  ]  TEXAS  AND  THE  TARIFF  105 

delphia/  In  the  early  part  of  December,  the  organization, 
of  the  "  American  Republican  Association  of  Second  Ward, 
Spring  Garden,"  was  perfected."  This  movement  was  so 
strong  that  in  the  municipal  election  in  the  following  April 
this  ward  was  carried  by  the  new  party.  Organizations 
in  other  wards  also  made  respectable  showings.  This  year 
also  a  local  officer  was  elected  in  Moyamensing  by  the 
Native  Americans.^ 

These  preliminar}^  successes  encouraged  them  to  try  for 
wider  organization.  On  March  13,  1844,  a  large  mass 
meeting  was  held  in  Independence  Square.*  The  publica- 
tion of  several  newspapers  under  Nativist  support  soon  fol- 
lowed.^ In  order  to  complete  their  organization  in  Ken- 
sington, a  mass  meeting  was  held  there  on  May  3,  1844,  but 
this  meeting  was  broken  up  by  Irishmen  of  the  neighbor- 
hood." A  call  for  another  meeting  for  May  6  was  made. 
The  warning  was,  "  Natives  be  punctual  and  resolve  to> 
sustain  your  rights  as  Americans,  firmly  but  moderately."  ^ 
The  meeting  led  to  rioting  between  the  Natives  and  the 
Irish,  which  continuing  for  several  days  resulted  in  the 
destruction  of  several  Catholic  churches  and  other  property 

*  The  first  Native  American  meeting  in  Philadelphia  county  had  been 
held  at  Germantown  as  early  as  1837 ;  but  this  movement  soon  died. 
Scharf  and  Westcott,  History  of  Philadelphia,  vol.  i,  p.  663. 

*  Native  American,  May  25,  1844. 

»  United  States  Gazette,  March  18,  1844. 

*  North  American,  March  14,  1844. 

*  Native  American,  Daily  Sun,  American  Advocate,  and  Native 
Eagle  and  Advocate  were  all  daily  papers,  sold  for  a  penny  to  large 
numbers  of  workingmen. 

^Native  American,  May  4.  1844.  Kensington  had  I)een  the  scene  of 
previous  conflicts  between  tlie  Irish  and  otlier  members  of  the  com- 
munity. The  first  clash  came  in  1828,  and  another  in  1843;  Scharf 
and  Westcott,  History  of  Piladclphia,  vol.  i,  pp.  623,  661. 

''Native  American,  May  6,  1844. 


I06  THE  WHIG  PARTY  IN  PENNSYLVANIA  [352 

and  the  loss  of  a  number  of  lives.  In  the  early  part  of 
July,  rioting  of  several  clays'  duration  again  occurred,  but 
this  time  in  Southwark.  The  animus  of  the  rioters  wasi 
directed  against  a  Catholic  church  in  which  stored  firearms 
were  discovered/  The  movement  now  became  fully  iden- 
tified with  anti^Catholicism,  thus  attracting  support  which 
it  would  not  otherwise  have  secured."  The  trials  of  the 
rioters,  extending  well  into  October,  helped  keep  interest  in 
Nativism  alive.  An  organization  in  Philadelphia  city  and 
county  was  perfected;  nominations  for  Congress,  for  the 
state  legislature,  and  for  county  and  city  officers  were  made. 
It  was  deemed  inexpedient  to  attempt  the  organization  of 
the  state  this  year  for  the  election  of  governor  and  canal 
commissioner.^ 

Outside  of  Philadelphia,  the  only  other  county  in  the 
state  in  which  the  Native  Americans  perfected  an  organiza- 

>  An  excellent  account  of  the  riots  is  given  in  Scharf  and  Westcott, 
op.  cit.,  vol.  i,  pp.  664,  et  seq.;  cf.  also  Public  Ledger,  Daily  Chronicle, 
Spirit  of  the  Times,  North  American,  Native  American,  Daily  Sun, 
May  7-13,  July  6-10,  1844.  The  various  newspapers  show  their  party 
affiliation  as  follows:  the  Native  press  exonerated  their  followers 
from  all  blame ;  the  Democratic  papers  condemned  tlie  Natives  for 
causing  the  riots;  the  Whig  sheets  attempted  to  distribute  the  onus» 
for  the  disturbances  but  placed  the  greater  portion  of  it  on  the  Irish. 
After  the  Soulhwork  riots,  a  large  number  of  citizens,  regardless  of 
party  affiliation,  signed  an  address  to  the  governor  pledging  their 
support  to  him  in  an  endeavor  to  check  all  future  disturbances;  Public 
Ledger,  July  12,  1844. 

' "  It  will  be  seen  that  such  a  contest  involves  an  issue  purely 
ROMAN  CATHOLIC  on  one  side  and  AMERICAN  on  the  other. 
....  There  is  no  other  question  before  the  people.  Let  us  decide  it 
then,  as  becomes  the  descendants  of  George  Washington,"  declared  the 
Daily  Sun,  (September  30,  1844. 

» Native  American,  August  5,  16,  1S44.  The  official  title  of  the  party 
•was  "The  Native  American  Republican  Party."  The  American  Ad- 
vocate, August  II,  1844,  urged  that  the  "half  and  half"  principle  be 
adopted  in  naming  candidates  from  the  old  parties  in  order  toi 
attract  voters  from  them. 


353]  TEXAS  AND  THE  TARIFF  107 

tion,  made  nominations,  and  polled  a  respectal)le  vote  was 
Lancaster/  In  this  county,  Anti-Masonry  had  been  parti- 
cularly strong  because  of  its  appeal  to  the  numerous  reli- 
gious sectarians.  Even  after  the  abandoning  of  the  state 
organization,  Anti-Masonry  had  continued  in  this  county.  A 
new  political  movement  with  a  religious  appeal  attracted 
some  Anti-Masons  who  had  not  identified  themselves  with 
the  "Anti-Masonic  and  Whig"  party."  Little  was  ac- 
complished in  Allegheny  county  where  an  endeavor  was  also 
made  to  form  a  Native  American  party  out  of  the  unab- 
sorbed  Anti-Masons.^  In  the  western  portion  of  the  state 
this  element  joined  the  newly  formed  Liberty  party,  which 
ran  congressional  candidates  in  the  western  districts.* 

Although  the  Native  Americans  had  no  candidate  of 
their  own  for  governor,  yet  they  did  not  fail  to  make  them- 
selves felt  in  the  election.  The  Democratic  candidate  had 
written  a  letter,  in  which  he  intimated  that  he  favored  the 

^Native  American,  June  10,  July  18;  Daily  Sun,  July  13,  1844.  The 
Native  vote  polled  in  Lancaster  county  was  2,500  out  of  a  total  of 
more  than  14,500;  North  American,  October  28,  1844. 

^  The  leaders  in  the  movement  in  Lancaster  county  were  E.  C.  Reigart, 
who  in  1843  questioned  Clay  on  his  views  on  Masonry,  and  George 
Ford,  one  of  the  committee  which  called  the  "Democratic  Harrison 
Convention"  of  1844.  Other  Anti-Masons,  Thomas  H.  Burrowes  and 
his  brothers,  Samuel  Parke,  ex-member  of  the  legislature,  and  John 
C.  Van  Camp,  chairman  of  the  county  committee  in  1840,  joined  the 
Democrats.  Thaddeus  iStevens  for  a  time  deliberated  over  the  course 
he  would  pursue;  the  Anti-Masonic  party  had  disappeared,  the  Dem- 
ocrats were  impossible,  the  Natives  at  best  problematical,  and  the 
newly  formed  Liberty  party  was  considered  temporarily  too  extreme, 
so  he  held  aloof  until  September  when  he  came  out  openly  for  Clay. 

*  Native  American,  August  10,  1844. 

*  No  candidate  was  run  in  the  i8th  congressional  district,  composed 
of  Fayette,  Greene,  and  Somerset  counties.  Candidates  were  run  in 
Philadelphia  and  Chester  counties,  where  many  Quakers  lived,  but  the 
vote  polled  was  not  large.  Public  Ledger,  September  26,  Octol>cr  2, 
1844. 


Io8  THE  WHIG  PARTY  IN  PENNSYLVANIA  [3^4 

exclusion  of  the  reading  of  the  Bible  from  the  public  schools. 
His  participation  in  the  dedication  of  the  Roman  Catholic 
cathedral  at  Pittsburgh  was  also  construed  to  his  disadvan- 
tage. This  agitation  on  the  religious  question  was  quickly 
adopted  by  the  Whigs/ 

The  excitement  displayed  in  this  election,  according  to 
the  Public  Ledger,  exceeded  that  in  the  election  of  1840, 
when  the  Democrats  had  not  been  so  active  as  the  Whigs.^ 
It  was  particularly  evident  in  Philadelphia,  where  the  Oc- 
tober elections  were  based  primarily  on  the  Native  American 
movement,  but  did  not  extend  to  other  portions  of  the  state. 
An  address  of  the  Whig  state  central  committee  declared 
that  if  the  Democrats  are  successful, 

the  odious  sub-Treasury  scheme,  dividing  the  offices  from  the 
people — taking  care  of  one  and  letting  the  others  take  care 
of  themselves,  will  be  revived.  The  war  is  to  be  renewed 
against  the  currency — against  commerce — against  a  protec- 
tive tariff — against  the  distribution  amongst  the  States  of  the 
proceeds  of  the  public  lands — against  commercial  credit 
— against  manufactories,  etc.  In  Pennsylvania  no  favorable 
change  is  proposed. 

The  Whigs  proposed  to  better  the  financial  condition  of  the 
state:  i.  by  the  sale  of  the  public  works  on  advantageous 
terms,  thereby  lowering  the  indebtedness  of  the  state;  2.  by 
a  change  of  men  and  measures,  tliereby  stopping  the  cry  of 
bribery  and  corruption ;  3.  by  the  distribution  of  the  money 
from  the  sale  of  the  public  lands;  4.  by  retaining  the  present 
tariff,  which  was  giving  protection  to  home  industries;  5. 
by  fewer  changes  in  legislation  affecting  commerce;  6.  by 

•  Pittsburgh  Daily   Morning   Post,   October    i ;    American  Advocate, 
October  5;  North  American,  September  20,  25,  October  5,  1844. 
'  September  2,  1844. 


355]  TEXAS  AXD  THE  TARIFF  109 

ail  equitable  mode  of   taxation/     These  were  the  points 
which  the  Whigs  stressed  during  the  campaign. 

The  elections  on  October  8  demonstrated  that  the  state 
was  controlled  by  the  Democrats  and  that  the  Natives  had 
de\'eloped  unexpected  strength  in  Philadelphia  county. 
Shunk  defeated  Markle,  the  Whig  candidate  for  governor, 
by  a  majority  of  four  thousand  votes.'  Of  the  twenty-four 
Congressmen  from  the  state,  twelve  were  returned  by  the 
Democrats,  ten  by  the  Whigs,  and  two  by  the  Natives. 
Encroachment  on  the  Democratic  majority  in  the  state  legis- 
lature came  through  the  Natives,  who  secured  one  senator 
and  seven  representatives  at  the  expense  of  the  Democrats, 
and  one  representative  at  the  expense  of  the  Whigs. ^  The 
vote  for  Congressmen  in  Philadelphia  city  and  county  was 
much  greater  than  in  1843,  with  the  returns  indicating  that 
the  Native  American  party  was  built  up  largely  from  Whig 
material.*  The  Spirit  of  the  Times,  the  leading  Demo- 
cratic paper  in  Philadelphia,  asserted  that  more  than  two- 
thirds  of  the  new  party  consisted  of  \Vhigs,  and  that  it  was 
nothing  but  the  Whig  party  in  disguise.^  Some  of  the 
Whig  papers  openly  gloried  in  the  triumph  of  the  Native 
Americans.® 

>  Printed  in  the  United  States  Gazette,  July  17,  1844. 

*  Smull's  Legislative  Hand-Book,  1919,  p.  720;  Francis  R.  Shunk 
(Dem.)  160.322;  Joseph  Markle  (Whig)  156,040;  F.  J.  Lamoyne 
(Liberty)  2,566.  The  fact  that  Markle  was  a  "  fast  friend  of  Stevens  " 
lost  him  votes  from  the  Clay  men ;  Hood,  "  Thaddcus  Stevens "  in 
Harris,  Biographical  History  of  Lancaster  County. 

*.\orth  American,  October  28,  1844.  Lewis  C.  Levin  and  John  H. 
Campbell  were  returned  respectively  from  the  first  and  third  congres- 
sional districts.  The  total  vote  polled  by  the  Natives  in  the  congres- 
sional districts  is  given  as  19,192.  For  a  characterization  of  Levin 
cf.  McQure,  Old  Time  Notes,  vol.  i,  p.  P9. 

*  Public  Ledger,  October  10,  11,  12,  1844. 

*  October  10,  1&44. 

6  On  November  11,   1844,  the  Xorth  American  openly  endorsed  the 


no  THE  WHIG  PARTY  IN  PENNSYLVANIA  [3-6 

The  Whigs  were  not  greatly  discouraged  by  the  defeat  of 
their  gubernatorial  candidate  and  entered  the  presidential 
campaign  with  zeal.  They  pointed  out  the  fact  that  the 
majority  which  Shunk  received  was  less  than  that  received 
by  Porter  in  1841.  In  1840  the  adverse  total  against  the 
Whigs  in  the  congressional  districts  had  been  ii,0(X),  yet 
they  had  carried  the  state  for  Harrison.  These  com- 
parisons, unfavorable  to  the  Democrats,  were  declared  to 
be  an  "  omen  for  November."  ^  It  was  also  stated  that 
Markle  did  not  develop  the  anticipated  strength  because  he 
came  from  a  strong  opposition  county  and  had  been  little 
heard  of  previously.  The  tarifif,  it  was  asserted,  had  not 
been  the  issue  for  it  had  not  been  shown  that  Shunk  was 
opposed  to  the  protective  principle.  Concerning  the  hos- 
tility of  Polk  to  a  protective  tariff,  however,  there  could  be 
no  doubt;  consequently,  the  Whigs  would  carry  the  state.^ 
Assuming  the  aggressive  on  the  tariff  dispute,  the  Whigsl 
charged  that  large  sums  of  gold  were  being  raised  in  Eng- 
land, particularly  in  Manchester,  to  spread  the  doctrine  of 
free  trade  in  the  United  States.^  The  Democrats  were  ac- 
cused of  having  called  the  tariff  of  1842  "  the  Black  Tariff,'^ 
until  they  discovered  that  the  object  of  their  attack  was  held 
in  high  favor  in  Pennsylvania.*  Indeed,  the  most  difficult 
thing  to  believe  was  declared  to  be  the  report  that  some 
banners,  flown  in  the  interior  of  the  state,  bore  the  wordsl 
•'  Polk,  Dallas  and  the  Tariff  of  1842."  ' 

Native  American  cause.  After  the  lapse  of  several  months  it  again 
supported  the  Whig  party.  The  Harrisburg  Telegraph  advised  "  poli- 
ticians who  are  looking  to  their  own  advancement  to  be  cautious  how 
they  make  themselves  obnoxious  to  this  growing  party."  Quoted  in 
Native  American,  October  12,  1844. 

^  North  American,  October  14,  1844. 

*  United  States  Gazette,  October  16,  1844. 
^  Daily  Forum,  October  9,  1844. 

*  North  American,  October  17,  1844. 
^  Ihid.,  October  26,  1844. 


357]  TEXAS  AND  THE  TARIFF  III 

The  Demccrats  did  net  shrink  now  from  the  tariff  as  the 
campaign  issue.  They  continued  to  use  the  letter  from 
Polk  to  Kane  contrasting,  with  telling  effect,  its  statements! 
with  the  utterances  of  Clay.  The  letter  of  McCandless  to 
the  Clarion  county  meeting  was  chiefly  relied  on  in  the 
western  portion  of  the  state.  Since  the  contest  would  be 
close,  efforts  were  made  to  capture  the  vote  of  abolitionists 
in  the  state.  An  alleged  statement  by  Clay  that  he  would 
not  sign  a  bill  abolishing  slavery  in  the  District  of  Columbia 
was  used  by  the  Democrats  for  this  purpose.  A  letter  from 
James  G.  Birney,  the  Liberty  candidate,  saying  he  preferred 
Polk  to  Clay  was  given  due  publicity.^  This  was  soon  fol- 
lowed by  another  letter,  later  proven  to  be  a  forgery,  in 
which  Birney  stated  that  he  had  always  been  a  Democrat." 
The  Catholics  were  held  to  the  Democracy  by  a  quotation 
from  the  Tennessee  Whig,  an  authoritative  Clay  organ,  to 
the  effect  that  "  There  can  be  no  peace  until  the  Catholics 
are  exterminated  from  this  country."  ^  Attacks  on  Freling- 
huysen  because  of  his  prominent  position  in  the  Bible  Society 
were  frequently  made. 

The  vote  polled  in  the  November  election  was  much  larger 
than  the  vote  cast  in  October;  both  parties  shared  in  the 
increase,  but  the  Democrats  retained  their  majority.*  The 
Whigs  carried  Philadelphia  county,  normally  a  Democratic 
stronghold,  through  the  addition  of  the  Native  American 
vote.'     The  only  other  county  in  which  a  change  of  political 

*  Spirit  of  the  Times,  October  i6,  1844. 

*  North  American,  October  31,  1844. 

'  Spirit  of  the  Times,  October  26,  1844. 

*  SmnU's  Legislative  Hand-Book,  1919,  p.  715;  James  K.  Polk 
(Dem.)  167,447;  Henry  Clay  (Whig)  161,125;  James  G.  Birney 
(Liberty)  3,100. 

'  Some  felt  that  the  Native  Americans  cost  Clay  the  election.  Louis- 
ville Journal,  quoted  in  Public  Ledger,  October  _'0,  1845,  "  Rut  for  the 


112  THE  WHIG  PARTY  IN  PENNSYLVANIA  [338 

alignment  took  place  was  Mercer,  which  was  carried  by  the 
Democrats  because  of  the  large  number  of  votes  cast  for 
the  Liberty  party.  The  deciding  issue  in  the  campaign, 
however,  had  been  the  tariff.  Governor  Porter  in  his  last 
annual  message  in  1845  put  it : 

I  hazard  nothing  in  asserting  that  neither  of  the  presidential 
candidates  could  have  hoped,  for  a  moment,  to  get  a  majority 
of  the  votes  in  this  state,  had  not  his  claims  been  based  upon 
the  assurance  that  he  was  friendly  to  the  continuance  of  the 
present  tariff  laws,  substantially  as  they  stand. ^ 

The  Whigs  had  not  proven  to  the  electorate  that  Polk  wasi 
opposed  to  the  tariff  of  1842. 

On  December  9,  1844,  the  "  Committee  on  Organization 
of  the  Clay  Club  "  issued  an  address  on  the  recent  elections. 
They  charged  that  in  the  Whig  counties  the  increase  over 
1840  was  normal,  but  that  in  some  of  the  Democratic  coun- 
ties, chiefly  in  the  northern  tier,  there  was  an  abnormal  De- 
mocratic but  onlv  a  normal  Whig  increase. 


'& 


Is  it  by  accident  that  the  illegitimate  increase  in  the  vote  of 
the  State  is  ALL  IN  THE  LOCOFOCO  COUNTIES,  and 
ALL  ON  THE  LOCOFOCO  SIDE?  Is  it  by  accident  that 
the  increase  in  the  Whig  vote  is  the  exact  ratio  of  the  increase 
of  the  poptdation,  and  that  the  Locofoco  vote  EXCEEDS 
THAT  RATIO  BY  ALMOST  TEN  THOUSAND?  Is  it 
by  accident  that  the  Locofoco  gain  in  the  Whig  counties  is  met 
by  a  corresponding  loss  in  the  Whig  vote,  and  that  a  Whig 
gain  in  the  Locofoco  counties  is  answered  by  a  STILL 
LARGER  GAIN  FOR  THE  LOCOFOCOS? 

Native  American  movement,  the  Whigs  vi^ould  have  been  victorious  in 
the  Presidential  elections  of  last  fall."  Cf.  Barnes,  Memoir  of 
Thurlow  Weed,  p.  134;  Colton,  Private  Correspondence  of  Henry 
Clay,  pp.  495,  497. 

>  Pentisylvania  Archives^  series  iv,  vol.  vi,  p.  1072. 


o 


H 

o 


cq 

« 

a 


o 


Jr. 

U 

Q 


359]  TEXAS  AND  THE  TARIFF  I13 

In  Pike  county,  it  was  claimed,  more  votes  were  cast  in 
1844  than  there  had  been  male  inhabitants  of  twenty-one 
years  and  over  in  1840.  The  committee  asserted  that  at 
least  10,000  illegal  votes  had  been  cast  in  the  state.  Clay 
was  declared  to  have  been  elected  President  and  Markle 
governor.  The  committee,  however,  departed  from  the 
precedent  established  in  1838  in  not  urging  a  course  of 
action  to  secure  the  offices  which  they  claimed.^ 

It  is  not  difficult  to  account  for  the  failure  of  Clay  to 
carry  the  state.  His  personality,  in  the  first  place,  did  not 
appeal  strongly  to  the  rural  voters,  a  thing  which  was  neces- 
sary if  the  normal  Democratic  majority  in  the  state  was 
to  be  overcome.  Furthermore,  in  the  past  he  had  been 
Jackson's  opponent,  and  the  name  of  Jackson  was  still  one 
to  conjure  with  in  the  commonwealth.  In  the  Whig  party 
itself,  a  large  element,  composed  of  former  Anti-Masons, 
distrusted  Clay.  This  element  had  controlled  the  opposition 
to  the  Democracy  in  1836  and  nominated  Harrison  as  the 
candidate  of  the  state.  It  had  been  particularly  influential 
in  1839  in  blocking  the  nomination  of  Clay  by  the  Whig 
national  convention.  This  element  had,  in  large  measure, 
opposed  Masonry  on  religious  grounds,  and  for  the  same 
reason  it  could  well  find  cause  for  complaint  in  Clay's  duel- 
ling and  gambling.  Politically  organized,  there  was  no 
such  thing  as  Anti-Masonry,  but  the  sentiment  for  the  old 
principles  still  prevailed.  The  position  of  Clay  on  the 
tariff  was  not  proven  to  be  essentially  different  from  that  of 
Polk.  In  addition,  the  cooperation  of  the  Whigs  and 
Native  Americans  tended  to  repel  whatever  Catholic  sup- 
port the  Whigs  had  previously  had.  Furthermore,  Fre- 
linghuysen,  the  Whig  candidate  for  the  vice-presidency,  was 
especially  distasteful  to  the  Catholic  voter.     Due  to  this 

^  Penttsyhania  Telegraph,  December  18,  1844- 


114  ^^^  IVHIG  PARTY  IN  PENNSYLVANIA  [360 

combination  of  circumstances,  the  Democrats,  by  a  small 
majority,  secured  the  electoral  vote  of  the  state. ^ 

When  the  state  legislature  met  in  January,  1845,  the 
senate  contained  twenty-one  Democrats,  eleven  Whigs,  and 
one  Native,  and  the  house  consisted  of  fifty-two  Democrats, 
forty  Whigs,  and  eight  Natives.  On  joint  ballot  the  Dem- 
ocrats had  seventy-three  of  the  one  hundred  and  thirty- 
three  votes. ^  On  January  14  the  legislature  reelected 
Daniel  Sturgeon  to  the  United  States  Senate.  Each  of 
the  three  parties  strictly  supported  its  caucus  nominee,  but 
some  indication  of  Democratic  disaffection  was  manifested, 
for  of  the  seventy-one  votes  cast  in  the  caucus  Sturgeon 
received  only  forty-two.* 

When  the  electoral  college  met  in  December  to  cast  the 
vote  of  the  state  for  Polk,  all  save  one  of  its  members  united 
in  an  address  to  the  President-elect  reconjmending  James 
Buchanan  for  Secretary  of  State.*  To  give  added  weight 
to  their  proceeding,  no  further  solicitations  for  office  were 
allowed,  in  the  hope  that  if  their  recommendation  were 
adopted,  other  offices  would  be  more  easily  secured.'  In  due 
course  of  time,  the  secretaryship  was  offered  to  and  accepted 
by  Buchanan."  Buchanan,  however,  served duringthe balance 

1 B.  W.  Richards,  November  18,  1844,  to  John  McLean,  Richard 
Peters,  December  6,  1844,  to  McLean,  McLean  Papers^  Lib.  of  Cong.; 
Wm.  D.  Lewis,  November  30,  1844,  to  Henry  Clay,  Colton,  Private 
Lorrespondetice  of  Henry  Clay,  p.  511. 

*  North  American,  January  3,  1845. 

'Public  Ledger,  January  13,  14,  15,  1845. 

♦Letter  of  the  electors  to  Polk,  December  5,  1844;  Polk  Papers,  Lib. 
of  Cong. 

5  Letters  of  J.  W.  Forney,  E.  W.  Hutter,  Henry  Walsh,  December  4, 
J.  M.  G.  Lescure,  December  5,  1844,  to  Buchanan,  Buchanan  Mss. 
These  men  though  not  members  of  the  electoral  college  engineered 
the  affair,  cooperating  with  Dr.  Geo.  F.  Lehman  who  was  a  member. 

•  Moore,  The  Works  of  James  Buchanan,  vol.  vi,  pp.  i  lO,  et  seq. 


361]  TEXAS  AND  THE  TARIFF  I15 

of  the  Twenty-eighth  Congress  as  United  States  Senator. 
On  March,  5,  1845,  he  tendered  his  resignation  to  the  gover- 
nor, who  on  the  eighth  forwarded  it  to  the  legislature/  To 
fill  the  vacancy  the  senate  made  thirty  nominations  and  the 
house  fifty.  The  correspondent  of  the  Public  Ledger 
thought  that  the  contest  lay  between  C.  J.  Ingersoll  and 
Simon  Cameron.^  It  was  evident  that  the  election  would 
be  based  on  the  tariff.  On  March  12,  the  Democrats  held 
a  caucus  which  only  forty-eight  of  the  seventy-three  members 
attended.  On  the  sixth  ballot  G.  W,  Woodward  received 
twenty-five  votes  and  was  declared  to  be  the  nominee  of  the 
caucus.     No  votes  at  the  caucus  were  cast  for  Cameron.^ 

In  the  meantime,  the  Whigs  were  pursuing  a  policy  which 
had  been  urged  upon  them  for  filling  the  full-term  senator- 
ship.  They  were  planning  to  throw  their  votes  to  a  Demo- 
crat, who  would  pledge  himself  to  support  the  Tariff  Act  of 
1842  and  who  had  enough  Democratic  votes  to  enable  him 
to  secure  the  election  with  Whig  and  Native  American  as- 
sistance. On  March  12  eleven  Whigs  addressed  a  letter 
to  Cameron,  in  which  they  pointed  out  the  fact  that  although 
they  were  of  the  minority  party  yet  they  might  be  able,  by 
proper  combination  with  some  Democrats,  to  elect  the 
Senator.  They,  therefore,  asked  him  the  following  ques^ 
tions : 

Are  you  in  favor  of  the  tariff  of  1842;  and  if  elected  to  the 
United  States  senate,  will  you  sustain  it  without  change? 

Are  you  in  favor  of  the  distribution  of  the  proceeds  of 
the  sales  of  the  public  lands;  and  if  elected  will  you  support 
this  measure? 

To  both  of  these  questions  Cameron  on  the  same  day  re>- 

*  Public  Ledger,  March  10,  1845. 

*  Ibid.,  March  12,  l^,  1845. 

*  Ibid.,  March  14,  1845. 


Il6  THE  WHIG  PARTY  IN  PENNSYLVANIA  [362 

plied  in  the  affirmative/  This  occurred  before  the  Demo- 
crats held  their  caucus  and  accounts  for  the  absence  of  the 
Cameron  supporters.  } 

The  following  day  Cameron  was  elected  on  the  sixth 
ballot.  The  Whigs  and  Native  Americans  did  not  vote  for 
Cameron  on  the  first  five  ballots,  insisting  that  his  strength 
be  revealed.  On  the  final  ballot  the  vote  was  for  Cameron 
sixty-seven,  Woodward  fifty^ve,  and  scattering  six.  The 
vote  for  Cameron  came  from  forty- four  Whigs,  sixteen  De- 
mocrats, seven  from  the  senate  and  nine  from  the  house, 
and  from  seven  Natives.  On  the  decisive  ballot  three 
Whigs  and  one  Native  did  not  vote.^  The  Whigs  claimed 
that  the  pledges  which  had  been  secured  from  Cameron 
made  the  election  their  triumph.  The  policy  of  Woodward 
was  declared  to  be  favorable  to  "  Free  Trade,  anti-Distribu- 
tion, and  opposed  to  any  change  of  the  laws  which  now 
virtually  surrender  our  government  to  the  mercy  of  foreign 
pauper  immigrants,  although  at  one  time  he  had  previously 
denounced  the  present  system."  '  A  leading  Democratic 
paper  declared  that  the  defeat  of  Woodward  was  due  to 
his  hostility  to  a  protective  tariff.* 

On  IMarch  14  the  Woodward  supporters  in  the  legisla- 
ture appointed  a  committee  to  prepare  an  address,  which 

1  Niks'  Register,  voL  Ixviii,  pp.  262,  et  seq.,  for  the  letters. 

2  House  Journal,  1845,  vol.  ii,  pp.  529,  et  seq.  For  a  fantastic  account 
of  how  religious  prejudices  were  appealed  to  in  order  to  secure  votes 
for  Cameron,  cf.  McClure,  Old  Time  Notes,  vol.  i,  p.  98.  Cameron  had 
evidently  been  laying  his  plans  long  ahead,  for  in  a  postscript  to  a 
letter  of  February  8,  1845,  to  Buchanan,  he  said,  "  I  will  tell  you  one 
of  these  days  in  confidence  who  will  succeed  you  in  the  Senate." 
Buchanan  Mss.  Savidge,  Life  of  Benjamin  Harris  Brewster,  p.  71. 
gives  an  account  of  the  disgust  of  Buchanan  when  he  was  told  by 
'Cameron  that  he  intended  to  succeed  him. 

*  North  American,  March  17,  1845. 

*  Spirit  of  the  Times,  July  16,  1846. 


363]  TEXAS  AND  THE  TARIFF  II7 

stated  how  Cameron  violated  party  custom  in  securing  his 
election.  Furthermore,  the  suspicion  of  bribery  was  not 
absent;  for,  the  activity  of  Cameron  inevitably  suggested 
corruption,  just  as  the  mention  of  corruption  inevitably 
suggested  Cameron.  At  an  adjourned  meeting  on  April 
12,  letters  from  Dallas  and  from  Buchanan  on  the  election 
of  Cameron  were  read.  After  protracted  debate  on  the 
address  the  meeting  adjourned  without  taking  any  definite 
action.  Due  to  the  impending  close  of  the  legislature,  no 
further  meetings  were  held.  Nevertheless,  the  officers  of 
these  meetings  presented  an  address  to  the  public,  in  which 
they  condemned  Cameron  and  his  supporters,  declaring  that 
his  election  was  a  Whig  victory.  The  letters  of  Dallas  and 
Buchanan  were  also  published.  Dallas  censured  those  who 
refused  to  support  the  caucus  nominee,  but  he  did  not  pass 
judgment  on  Cameron  because  he  was  elected  a  member  of 
the  body  over  which  Dallas  was  to  preside.  Buchanan, 
between  whom  and  Woodward  an  estrangement  had  been 
developing,  hoped  that  a  remedy  might  be  found  to  prevent 
the  occurrence  of  a  similar  election  in  the  future.  He,  how- 
ever, declined  to  join  in  the  criticism  of  Cameron,  whose 
election  was  an  act  of  the  state  government,  while  he  was 
now  associated  with  the  federal  government.^ 

During  the  last  session  of  the  Twenty-eighth  Congress 
attention  was  again  directed  to  the  question  of  the  annexa- 
tion of  Texas.  The  plan  to  secure  this  by  joint  resolution 
was  declared  to  be  the  abnegation  of  all  the  forms  of  the 
Cc nstitution.  The  contemplated  creation  of  five  or  six: 
slave  states  from  this  region  was  regarded  "as  the  per- 
petuity of  the  slave  power  of  the  South  over  the  free  in- 
stitutions of  the  North."  The  Native  Americans,  in  parti- 
cular, it  was  urged,  should  oppose  the  making  of  thousands 

*  Procedure,  address  and  letters  in  Miles'  Register,  vol.  Ixviii,  p.  136. 


Il8  THE  WHIG  PARTY  IN  PENNSYLVANIA  [364 

of  foreigners  citizens  by  the  stroke  of  the  pen.^  One  Whig 
editor  declared,  "  If  the  free  States  permit  this  stupendous 
fraud,  they  will  discover,  when  too  late,  that  they  have 
forged  fetters  for  themselves,  and  sacrificed  the  interests 
of  northern  industr}--  to  the  ignis  fatuus  of  free  trade."  * 
After  the  passage  of  the  resolution,  the  North  American 
declared  that  the  bond  of  silence  on  slavery  was  now  broken. 
"  Put  down  by  force,  we  shall  not  be  expected  to  keep 
quiet  from  courtesy."  "  After  stressing  the  illegality  of 
the  method  pursued  in  securing  annexation,  the  Miners* 
Journal  continued, 

There  is  no  disguising  it,  the  scheme  of  annexation  origin- 
ated in  avarice  and  lust  of  dominion  of  power,  and  has  been 
accomplished  in  direct  contempt  and  violation  of  the  Con- 
stitution, in  disregard  of  the  just  claims  of  Mexico,  and  in 
utter  disrespect  of  the  wills  and  wishes  of  two-thirds  of  the 
people  in  half  of  the  States.  We  have  not  only  done  a  wrong 
to  Mexico,  by  playing  the  part  of  a  highway  robber,  towards 
her,  but  have  encroached  upon  the  common  rights  of  the  great 
Commonwealth  of  Nations.* 

The  Whigs  of  the  state  viewed  the  annexation  with  mis- 
giving as  they  feared  that  the  tariff  might  suffer  as  a  result. 
The  Natives,  who  in  1844  had  succeeded  in  organizing 
only  for  elections  in  a  few  counties,  prepared  for  a  wider 
extension  of  their  movement.     On  February  22,   1845,  a 

^  North  American,  January  28,  1845. 

•  United  States  Gazette,  February  3,  1845. 

'North  American,  March  3,  1845;  analysis  of  the  vote,  ibid.,  March 
6.  1845. 

*  March  8,  1845.  The  Public  Ledger  (Ind.)  viewed  the  whole  affair 
with  pleasure.  Its  circulation  was  by  far  the  greatest  of  any  paper 
in  the  state,  and  the  workingmen  were  its  chief  readers.  On  October 
I,  1845,  its  leading  editorial  was  headed,  "The  Continent,  the  Whole 
G^ntinent,  and  Nothing  but  the  Continent." 


365]  TEXAS  AND  THE  TARIFF  II9 

State  convention  of  Native  Americans  assembled  at  Harris- 
burg.  Seventy- four  delegates,  who  came  from  Phila- 
delphia and  twelve  other  counties,  were  in  attendance,  but 
nine  of  the  counties  were  represented  by  only  one  or  two 
delegates.  The  convention  passed  resolutions  demanding 
a  probationary  period  of  twenty-one  years  for  all  f  jreigners 
before  admitting  them  to  citizenship,  and  condemned 
religious  creeds  which  favored  a  union  of  church  and  state.'' 
On  August  7  a  nominating  convention  assembled  at  Har- 
risburg  and  placed  Robert  H.  Morton  before  the  public  as 
the  candidate  for  canal  commissioner.^ 

The  Democrats  nominated  their  candidate  for  canal 
commissioner  in  a  regular  convention.  The  Whigs,  how- 
ever, were  in  a  great  state  of  disorder,  with  strong 
indications  that  the  organization  might  be  discontinued, 
particularly  in  Philadelphia  where  the  Native  Americans 
had  made  such  inroads  on  their  party.  They  held 
no  nominating  convention  this  year,  and  it  was  not 
until  the  middle  of  September  that  the  Whig  state  central 
committee  of  the  year  before  selected  Captain  Samuel  D. 
Kams  as  the  candidate.'  This  action  met  with  the  appr  wal 
of  the  Whigs.  A  fourth  candidate  for  this  office  was 
furnished  by  the  Liberty  party. 

There  was  no  issue  raised  for  the  campaign,  although  the 
Spirit  of  the  Times,  a  Dem  >cratic  paper,  declared  that  the 
election  was  based  on  the  questicn  of  the  disorders  of  the 
year  before.*  As  a  result  of  the  election  the  Natives  did 
not  return  a  member  to  the  legislature,  thereby  losing  their 

*  Public  Ledger,  February  24,  26,  28,  1845. 

*  North  American,  Aupust  9,  1845. 

'United  States  Gazette,  March  5,   IQ,  April  23;  ibid.,  Septemher  10, 
1845,  for  the  addres.s  of  the  committee  on  September  15. 

♦October  14,  1845. 


I20  THE  WHIG  PARTY  IN  PENNSYLVANIA  [366 

eight  men  in  the  house.  The  next  legislature  would  con- 
tain in  the  senate  eighteen  Democrats,  fourteen  Whigs,  and 
one  Native,  and  in  the  house  sixty-seven  Democrats  and 
thirty-three  Whigs/  The  Natives  charged  that  the  Whigs 
had  supported  tlie  successful  Democratic  ticket  in  Phila- 
delphia city  and  county  in  return  for  the  clerkships.^  The 
Democratic  candidate  for  canal  commissioner  received  4,500 
more  votes  than  his  opponents.^  This  election  in  an  off  year 
clearly  indicates  the  strength  of  the  Democratic  control  of 
the  state. 

With  the  approach  of  the  opening  of  Congress,  the  Dem- 
ocracy of  the  state  feared  that  the  national  party  might 
attempt  to  alter  the  tariff  rates.  Immediately,  it  took 
steps  to  prevent  this  alteration.  The  Morning  Ariel,  a 
Democratic  paper  of  Philadelphia,  said,  "If  such  an  attempt 
is  made,  we  shall  oppose  it."  *  The  movement  to  indicate  in 
immistakable  terms  the  attitude  of  the  state  culminated 
in  a  call,  by  the  Democratic  leaders,  for  a  state  tariff  con- 
vention.^ The  Whigs  in  general  favored  the  convention, 
but  some  urged  the  Whigs  not  to  attend  the  convention  since 
"  A  locofoco  convention  will  exert  tenfold  more  influence 
on  our  locofoco  president  and  his  cabinet  than  a  mixed 
convention."  *  On  November  12  the  convention  assembled 
at  Hollidaysburg  with  ex-Governor  Porter  in  the  chair. 

^  North  American,  October  28,  1845. 
^  Daily  Sun,  October  16,  1845. 

*  North  American,  October  31,  1845,  gives  the  official  returns  as  fol- 
lows: Bums  (Dein.)  1 19.510;  Karns  (Whig)  89,118;  Morton  (Nat 
Am.)  22,434;  Latimer  (Liberty)   2,851. 

*  September  6,  1845. 

f- Daily  Commercial  Journal,  October  21,  1845,  for  the  preliminary 
meeting. 

*  Pittsburgh  Gazette,  October  23,  1845,  quoted  in  Niles"  Register,  vol. 
Ixix,  p.  142. 


367]  TEXAS  AND  THE  TARIFF  I2i 

The  resolutions  favored  the  tariff  of  1842  because  it  was  a 
revenue  tariff/  The  Whigs,  however,  were  not  satisfied 
with  the  resolutions.  R.  M.  Riddle,  one  of  the  secretaries 
of  the  convention,  wrote  that  the  Democrats  attempted  to 
reconcile  their  wishes  with  the  policy  of  the  administration. 
Furthermore,  "  the  Democrats  were  so  strongly  in  the 
majority,  that  even  moves  to  amend  grammatical  blunders 
were  swept  doAvn — ^and  the  party  lines  inflexibly  drawn, 
even  against  the  crossing  of  a  ^  or  the  dotting  of  an  i."  ~ 

At  the  national  capital  the  President  was  preparing  hisi 
first  message  to  Congress.  As  early  as  September  29,  1845, 
Buchanan  had  informed  Polk  that  he  could  not  control  the 
Pennsylvania  Democrats  if  Polk  intended  to  ask  for  altera- 
tions in  the  tariff  of  1842.^  When  on  November  11  Sec- 
retary of  the  Treasury  Walker  read  to  the  cabinet  his  re- 
port to  Congress,  Buchanan  opposed  his  recommendation 
for  the  elimination  of  specific  duties  and  for  the  substitu- 
tion of  ad  valorem  duties.*  Nevertheless,  the  President 
embodied  this  recommendation  of  Walker  in  his  message.* 
One  of  the  Whig  editors  characterized  the  message  as 
"  a  middling  affair,  ....  excellent  in  nothing  but  its 
piety,  and  interesting  only  for  the  position  of  its  author."  * 
The  North  American  in  reiterating  the  Whig  position  said, 

A  tariff  of  revenue,  a  tariff  of  protection,  a  tariff  with  in- 
cidental protection,  and  a  dozen  other  titles,  have  been  mouthed 
so  often  by  political  orators,  that  most  men  shrink  from  the 
task  of  splitting  the  hairs  which  divide  them.     The  real  ques- 

'  Resolutions  quoted  in  Niks'  Register,  vol.  Ixix,  p.  181. 
''Daily  Commercial  Journal,  November  16,  1845. 
»  Folk's  Diary,  vol.  i,  p.  46. 

*  Ibid.,  vol.  i,  p.  94. 

5  Richardson,  Messages  and  Papers  of  the  Presidents,  vol.  iv,  p.  406- 

*  Daily  Commercial  Journal,  December  8,  1845. 


122  THE  WHIG  PARTY  IN  PENNSYLVANIA  [368 

tion  is — shall  our  domestic  manufactures  be  protected  by  our 
revenue  laws,  or  not?  It  is  of  little  importance  by  what  title 
the  protection  is  given.^ 

The  efforts  made  to  impress  Congress  with  the  attitude 
of  the  state  on  the  tariff  question  were  continued.  The 
legislature  adopted  resolutions  instructing  the  Senators  and 
requesting  the  Representatives  to  oppose  all  "  attempts  to 
alter  or  modify  "  the  existing  tariff  act.*  On  the  passage  of 
these  resolutions  the  Whigs  refused  to  vote  because  there 
had  been  added  clauses  against  a  national  bank,  against  the 
distribution  of  the  proceeds  from  the  sale  of  the  public 
lands,  and  for  the  separation  of  the  government  from  all 
banking  institutions.^  The  fact  that  the  legislature  had 
adopted  these  resolutions  w^ith  practically  no  opposition  led 
one  of  the  leading  Democratic  papers  to  exclaim  that  "  in 
Pennsylvania  the  tariff  has  never  been  a  party  question."  * 
Efforts  to  make  the  hostility  of  the  state  to  tariff  alteration 
impressive  continued.  The  Pennsylvania  Representatives 
at  Washington,  under  the  leadership  of  the  Whigs,  organ- 
ized an  exhibition  of  American  manufactures  "  to  be  com- 
pared with  the  British  manufactures  sent  from  Manchester, 
and  now  being  exhibited  in  the  room  of  the  '  committee  on 
post  office  and  postroads,'  to  influence  the  action  of  Con- 
gress in  relation  to  the  proposed  modification  of  the  tariff."  * 

'  December  8,  1845. 

*  Session  Laws,  1846,  p.  511. 

'  House  Journal,  1846,  vol  i,  pp.  183,  227,  274,  520,  671 ;  Senate  Journal, 
1846,  vol.  i,  pp.  58,  186,  780.  The  questions  involved  in  the  second  part 
of  the  resolutions  did  not  come  before  Congress ;  consequently, 
there  was  no  clash  between  Cameron's  election  pledge  and  the  instruc- 
tions of  the  legislature. 

*  Democratic  Union,  quoted  in  Niks'  Register,  vol.  Ixix,  p.  336.  The 
senate  had  just  unanimously  passed  the  tariff  portion  of  the  resolutions. 

*  Address  of  March  24,  1846,  in  Niles"  Register,  vol.  Ixx,  p.  51. 


369]  TEXAS  AND  THE  TARIFF  1 23 

The  efforts  of  Pennsylvania  to  stay  the  passage  of  the 
tariff  bill  were  of  no  avail,  for  on  July  3,  1846,  it  was 
adopted  by  the  House.  The  North  American  gave  an 
analysis  of  the  vote  and  said, 

Sir  Robert  Walker's  Free  Trade  Bill  for  reducing  the  revenue 
and  destroying  the  industrial  pursuits  of  our  country  passed 
the  House  of  Representatives,  by  the  aid  of  113  Democratic 
and  I  Whig  vote.  It  was  resisted  by  71  Whigs,  18  Democrats, 
and  6  Native  Americans,  in  all  95.  Either  New  York  or 
Ohio  could  have  saved  the  bill,  but  Party  triumphed  over 
Country.  But  4  Democratic  votes  from  New  York  were 
obtained,  and  none  from  Ohio,  after  all  its  blustering  against 
the  bill.^ 

That  the  bill  was  a  Democratic  measure  was  clearly  shown 
by  the  vote.  The  Whigs  maintained  that  the  Democratic 
Representatives  from  Pennsylvania  had  been  forced  to 
follow  their  lead  in  opposing  the  bill.^ 

>  July  7.  1846. 

» Daily  Commercial  Journal,  July  10,  1846.  Of  the  twelve  Democratic 
Representatives  from  Pennsylvania,  David  Wilmot  alone  voted  for 
the  bill.  On  December  2,  1845,  Wilmot  had  endorsed  the  views  06 
Polk,  which  were  to  be  embodied  in  the  message;  Polk's  Diary,  vol. 
i,  p.  no.  Wilmot  had  been  elected  as  a  free-trade  candidate  from  a 
district  in  the  northern  tier  of  counties.  In  defending  his  course,  the 
leading  Democratic  paper  of  the  district  proposed  "the  Divorce  of 
Pennsylvania  from  Massachusetts ; "  Bradford  Reporter,  August  26, 
1846.  It  also  claimed  that  "  the  '  cotton  lords '  have  waxed  rich  upon 
the  industry  of  the  land;  capital  has  accumulated  capital,  and  bloated 
wealth  has  added  to  its  riches.  But  we  ask  the  Farmers  of  Bradford, 
has  it  added  to  your  purse  or  your  provisions?"  ibid.,  July  15,  \8.\6. 
When  Wilmot  discovered  the  hostility  of  the  other  Democrats  from 
Pennsylvania  to  alterations  in  the  tariff  schedules,  he  wrote  John 
Laporte  on  December  15.  1845,  "  I  learn  by  letter  that  Miller  speaks 
unfavourably  of  the  President's  views  upon  the  subject  of  tbe  Tariff. 
This  if  so  is  disgraceful.  I  have  no  charity  for  those  who  knowing 
the  right  will  not  or  dare  not  pursue  it.  If  I  am  to  stand  entirely 
alone  on  that  question,  receiving  no  countenance  or  support  or  encour- 
agement from  any  quarter,  I  shall  look  out  sharply  for  myself."  Ms. 
letter  in  the  Society  Collection,  Mist.  Soc.  of  Penna. 


124  ^^^  WHIG  PARTY  IN  PENNSYLVANIA  [370 

The  fact  that  the  bill  had  passed  the  House  did  not  deter 
the  Democrats  of  the  state  from  declaring  that  it  would  be 
defeated  in  the  Senate.  They  urged  the  people  of  the  state 
to  continue  voicing  their  opposition  to  altering  the  law.^ 
When  it  became  evident  that  there  might  be  a  tie-vote  in 
the  Senate,  necessitating  a  decision  by  the  Vice-President, 
they  assured  the  citizens  of  the  state  that  the  bill  would  be 
defeated.  Defeat  of  the  bill  depended  then  on  the  capacity 
in  which  the  Vice-President  voted.  It  was  argued  that 
according  to  the  Constitution  he  would  vote  as  a  Senator; 
consequently  he  would  be  bound  to  vote  with  Pennsylvania, 
from  which  state  he  came.  If  the  Senate  were  equally 
divided,  they  argued,  he  could  not  urge  that  a  majority  was 
against  Pennsylvania,  which  had  spoken  unanimously  in 
adopting  resolutions  against  the  proposed  bill.  If  the  Vice- 
President  voted  for  the  bill,  he  would  nullify  one  of  the 
votes  of  Pennsylvania  in  the  Senate  and  give  her  "  a  bill 
that  will  do  her  more  harm  than  a  short  war  with  Great 
Britain.  For  the  bill  of  Mr.  McKay  makes  a  long  and 
blasting  war  upon  the  workingnien  of  our  country."  If 
the  Vice-President  did  not  vote  as  a  Senator,  he  would  vote 
as  the  "  Representative  of  the  People."  The  bill  would 
then  become  law  "  without  the  vote  of  the  Senate,  but 
merely  upon  the  Representative  vote  of  Mr.  Dallas,  if  he 
does  not  vote  as  a  Senator."  ^  Other  Democratic  papers 
were  not  so  certain  that  the  interests  of  the  state  were  secure 
merely  because  one  of  the  citizens  of  the  state  chanced  to 
be  Vice-President.^ 

^American  Sentinel,  July  13,  1846;  for  summaries  of  the  action  taken 
by  mass  meetings  in  the  state,  cf.  Niles'  Register,  vol.  Ixx,  p.  309. 

'American  Sentinel,  July  15,  1846. 

3  Spirit  of  the  Times,  July  22,  1846.  In  its  issue  of  July  21  it  warned 
the  South  of  a  rebellion  at  the  ballot  box  if  the  bill  passed.    "There 


371  ]  TEXAS  AND  THE  TARIFF  125 

The  Whig  Senators,  much  to  his  embarrassment,  forced 
the  Vice-President  to  cast  a  ballot  for  the  engrossing  of  the 
bill,  whereby  he  saved  the  measure  from  defeat/  The 
attack  on  Dallas  by  the  majority  of  the  Democratic  papers 
of  the  state  for  his  vote  was  terrific.  One  of  his  former 
supporters  said, 

Should  Mr.  Dallas  live  to  the  age  of  Mathuzalah,  he  will 
never  be  able  to  make  ample  atonement  for  his  severe  on- 
slaught upon  the  home  industry  of  Pennsylvania.  Farewell 
to  all  vice-presidents  for  the  future  from  Pennsylvania. — 
We  have  had  enough  of  one  to  last  us,  while  all  who  live 
now  shall  continue  to  breathe  the  breath  of  existence  in  our 
land.- 

Another  Democratic  journal  cried  aloud,  "  The  Old  Key- 
stone has  been  blasted  by  the  ingrate  hand  of  a  treacherous 
son !  "  It  shouted  "  REPEAL  is  the  word !  Take  it  up  De- 
mocrats! echo  it  iron  men!  echo  it  miners  and  laborers; 
shout  it  mechanics!  There  shall  be  no  rest,  no  reposing 
until  the  British  Tariff  Bill  is  repealed !  "  ^  Buchanan  in  two 

are  times  when  wrongs  make  rebellions  sacred ;  there  are  occasions 
when  submission  is  dishonorable.  Think  not  because  we  have  borne 
long  and  patiently  we  will  Ijear  the  ass'  load  forever." 

'  For  the  method  in  which  this  was  accomplished,  although  their 
other  plans  failed,  cf.  The  IVritings  and  Speeches  of  Darnel  Webster, 
vol.  xvi,  p.  459.  For  Dallas*  defense  see  his  letter  in  the  Pentusylva- 
nian,  August  5,  1846. 

*  American  Sentinel,  July  29,  1846.  Hostility  to  Dallas  was  intense. 
He  was  burned  in  effigy  in  Philadelphia  and  elsewhere;  Pennsy Iranian, 
July  31 ;  United  States  Gazette,  August  7,  1846. 

*  Spirit  of  the  Times,  July  29,  30,  1846.  Dallas  of  course  had  his 
supporters.  A  list  of  voters,  in  the  Pennsyhanian,  .Xugust  S,  1846, 
who  congratulated  him  upon  his  vote,  contains  the  name  of  Wm.  D. 
Kelley,  later  because  of  his  extreme  views  in  favor  of  protection  known 
as  "  Pig  Iron  "  Kelley.  At  this  time  Kciicy  was  a  free-trader ;  Kelley, 
Speeches,  Addresses  and  Letters  on  Industrial  and  Financial  Ques- 
tions, p.  vi. 


126  THE  WHIG  PARTY  IN  PENNSYLVANIA  [^y2 

letters  to  John  W.  Forney,  who  had  recently  acquired  the 
Pennsylvanian,  indicating  a  plan  to  offset  the  disastrous 
effect  of  the  passage  of  the  act  on  the  Democracy  of  the 
state,  declared,  "  Repeal  is  not  the  word,  but  modification. 
A  protective  Tariff  is  not  the  word;  but  a  revenue  Tariff 
with  sufficient  discriminations  to  maintain  our  home  in- 
dustry." ^  The  cry  of  "  repeal "  was,  however,  eagerly 
caught  up  and  was  written  into  the  resolutions  of  Demo- 
cratic mass  meetings  in  all  parts  of  the  state.* 

The  Whigs  did  not,  as  did  the  Democrats,  attribute  the 
odium  for  the  passage  of  the  bill  to  the  Vice-President. 
They  criticized  their  jx)litical  opponents,  particularly  those 
from  the  South,  for  the  passage  of  the  act.  One  editor 
complained, 

The  South  enters  into  a  political  contest  with  the  feelings 
engendered  at  the  race  course,  and  having  wagered  upon  a 
chance,  urges  it  to  the  uttermost,  careless  of  consequences. 
The  repeal  of  the  Tariff  may  ruin  the  country,  but  what 
matter,  if  the  gamesters  of  the  South,  who  now  stake  negroes, 
and  anon  wager  the  rights  of  a  people,  win  the  game?  The 
South  itself  will  suffer  from  the  derangement  of  our  policy 
— but  it  will  win  the  race.  That  the  triumph  is  appreciated 
is  manifest  from  the  epileptic  glee  of  the  Union.^ 

The  fact  that  many  Democratic  banners  in  the  state  had 
proclaimed  for  the  tariff  of  1842  was  bitterly  recalled.^ 
The  Whigs  declared  that  all  attempts  to  secure  a  com- 

•  Moore,  The  Works  of  James  Buchanan,  voL  vii,  pp.  43,  46.  Thia 
suggestion  was  followed  by  Forney,  and  adopted  gradually  by  other 
Democratic  editors ;  Pennsylvanian^  August  4,  5,  8,  10,  1846. 

•Some  of  the  resolutions  in  the  North  American,  August  21 ;  United 
States  Gazette,  September  2,  1846;  NUBS'  Register,  vol.  Ixx,  p.  405. 

*  North  American,  July  11,  1846. 

*Ihid.,  July  14,  IS;  United  States  Gazette,  July  9,  30,  1846. 


373]  TEXAS  AND  THE  TARIFF  1 27 

promise  tariff  should  be  rejected,  as  this  plan  involved  a 
surrender  of  principle/  It  was  declared  that  the  new 
tariff  would  bear  most  heavily  on  the  small  capitalist,  who 
would  soon  be  forced  to  abandon  his  business."  The  act; 
was  characterized  as  being  thoroughly  British  and  as  being 
of  especial  benefit  to  the  Duke  of  York  in  the  operation  of 
his  large  coal  mines  in  Nova  Scotia,  since  the  products  of 
these  mines  could  now  be  sold  in  New  England  to  the  ex- 
clusion of  anthracite  coal  from  the  Pennsylvania  mines 
unless  the  wages  paid  the  miners  were  reduced.'  In  fact,  it 
was  noted  that  miners  were  leaving  Pennsylvania,  bound 
for  the  coal  fields  of  Nova  Scotia.* 

In  the  act  the  Whigs  saw  the  triumph  of  the  South,  and 
in  the  triumph  of  the  South  they  saw  the  victory  of  slave 
over  free  labor.     The  Daily  C ommercial  Journal  asserted, 

The  perpetuity  of  the  slave  institution  depends  upon  its 
success  in  overthrowing  and  destroying  free  labor.  With  this 
view  was  the  Tariff  of  1846  framed,  and  no  act  was  ever 
better  fitted  to  accomplish  its  aim.  From  one  end  to  the  other, 
it  is  a  bill,  not  alone  to  protect  slave  capital,  but  to  war  upon 
free  labor. 

If  the  act  of  1842  was  unconstitutional,  as  the  people  of  the 
South  claimed,  because  of  its  protective  features,  so  was 
the  act  of  1846;  "  both  acts  are  protective — ^but  that  of 
'42  encouraged  free  labor — this  of  '46  protects  slave 
labor."  ''     The  North  American  in   a  series   of   editorials 

*  North  American,  July  25,  1846. 

'Daily  Commercial  Journal,  July  20,  1846. 

'North  American,  August  3;  United  States  Gazette,  July   10,  August 
19,  September  24,  26,  29,  18416. 

*  United  States  Gazette,  September  30,  1846. 
••August  6,  1846. 


128  THE  WHIG  PARTY  IN  PENNSYLVANIA  [374 

maintained  that  slave  and  free  labor  were  antithetical  in 
the  same  country/     In  one  of  them  it  said, 

Our  duty  is  now  a  plain  one — the  North  must  take  care  of 
herself.  She  must  become  the  unflinching  advocate  of  free- 
dom and — since  Northern  industry  stinks  in  Southern  nostrils 
— the  hearty  hater  of  slave  labor.  Pennsylvania  has  stood  too 
long  the  champion  of  the  South.  She  must  now  become  the 
unceasing,  sleepless  sentinel  of  freedom.  She  is  now  spit  upon 
and  scorned,  and  in  her  hour  of  distress  and  dismay,  let  her 
learn  that  the  hand  that  has  wronged  her  can  be  extended  in 
friendship  no  more.^ 

This  triumph  of  the  South  over  the  North  had  come  as! 
the  result  of  the  annexation  of  Texas,  it  was  felt,  for 
"  by  the  aid  of  Texas  Senators,"  the  South  has  "  cursed 
us  with  Free  Trade."  ^  The  fact  that  the  act  would  have 
been  defeated  in  the  Senate  without  tlie  votes  of  the  two 
Senators  from  Texas,  always  remained  to  the  protectionist 

'August  I,  5,  6,  10,  1846. 

*  August  5,  1846. 

^Daily  Commercial  Journal,  August  6,  1846.  A  correspondent,  "  X  ", 
in  the  United  States  Gazette,  July  31,  ironically  stated  that  Texas 
would  be  of  great  value  since  it  had  cost  so  much.  "  The  coal  and 
iron  interests  of  Pennsylvania  too  may  be  prostrated  by  the  repeal 
of  that  Tariff — and  the  diminished  revenue  arising  from  such  repeal 
way  and  most  certainly  will  render  it  necessary  to  lay  a  United 
States  tax  to  meet  the  increased  expenditures  of  the  govern- 
ment.— ^But  what  of  all  this?  '  Issachar  is  a  strong  ass  crushing  down 
between  two  burdens,'  and  we  Pennsylvanians  have  always,  as  in 
duty  bound,  most  patiently  followed  the  illustrious  example.  *  Huzza 
for  Polk,  Dallas  and  the  Tariff  of  '42.' "  The  Pennsylvania  Telegraph, 
July  29,  1846,  complained,  "  Pennsylvania  gave  her  vote  in  favor  of 
the  annexation  of  Texas,  which  added  two  Free  Trade  Senators  to 
the  United  States  Senate,  by  whose  votes  the  Tariff  of  1842  has  been 
repealed,  and  this  free  trade  system  introduced,  prostrating  her 
energy,  destroying  her  manufactures,  and  her  iron  and  coal  interests. 
She  built  the  gallows  to  hang  herself,  and  her  neck  is  now  in  the 
noose." 


375]  TEXAS  AND  THE  TARIFF  1 29 

Whigs  a  reminder  of  the  injustice  caused  by  the  ad- 
mission of  that  state  into  the  Union/ 

The  course  of  the  administration  in  the  peaceful  settle- 
ment of  the  Oregon  question  met,  in  general,  with  the  ap- 
proval of  the  Whigs.^  Some  of  them  felt  that  the  former 
enthusiasm  for  Oregon  had  been  feigned.  One  of  them 
said,  "  The  Administration  but  pretended  its  zeal  for  the 
*  whole  of  Oregon,'  to  secure  the  assistance  of  its  Northern 
friends  in  the  cause  of  annexation  and  the  crusade  against 
the  Tarifif."  '  The  veto  of  the  River  and  Harbor  Bill  was 
declared  to  be  another  blow  at  the  North,  although  it  also 
seriously  affected  the  West  and  the  Southwest.* 

The  Whig  nominee  for  canal  commissioner  in  1845  ^^^ 
been  nominated  by  the  Whig  state  central  committee,  which 
had  kept  itself  in  existence  from  the  year  before.  After  the 
election  of  1845  this  committee  considered  its  labors  as 
more  than  completed  and  made  no  arrangements  for  its 
successor.  Therefore,  on  January  13,  1846,  the  Whig 
members  of  the  state  legislature  met  and  appointed  a  com- 
mittee of  three  to  prepare  a  call  for  a  convention  to  meet 
on  March  1 1  for  the  purpose  of  nominating  a  candidate  for 
canal  commissioner.^  According  to  call  the  convention 
assembled  and  on  the  third  ballot  nominated  James  M. 
Power  of  Mercer  county.®  On  March  4  the  Democratic 
convention  renominated  William  B,  Foster.'     The  Native 

^  Cf.  the  message  of  Governor  Johnston  in  1850  in  reply  to  the 
resolutions  of  Georgia  and  Virginia  on  the  compromises  of  1850; 
House  Journal,  1850,  vol.  ii,  pp.  419,  et  seq. 

*  North  American,  June  12,  13,  1846. 

*  Daily  Commercial  Journal,  Jime  18,  1846. 

*  Ibid.,  August  6,  1846. 

^  Ibid-,  January  20,  1846. 
^Public  Ledger,  March  13,  1846. 
Ubid.,  March  6,  1846. 


130  THE  WHIG  PARTY  IN  PENNSYLVANIA  [375 

American  convention  of  February  24  placed  Robert  H. 
Morton  before  the  people  as  its  candidate/  William  L. 
Elder  received  the  nomination  of  the  Liberty  party. 

The  Whigs  fought  the  campaign  of  1846  on  the 
question  of  the  tariff  and  on  that  question  alone.  Itj 
was  not  necessary  to  argue  the  advisability  of  a  pro- 
tective tariff.  It  was  necessary  merely  to  state  that  the 
Tariff  Act  of  1842  had  been  repealed,  and  that  too  by  the 
Democrats,  who  in  1844  had  made  loud  protestations  that 
their  party  would  be  the  only  one  to  preserve  the  act  of  1842. 
A  corollary  to  the  statement  that  the  act  had  been  repealed 
was  that  the  country  was  being  ruined  thereby.  Although 
the  Tariff  Act  of  1846  was  not  to  go  into  effect  until  De- 
cember, its  effects,  it  was  claimed,  were  already  in  evidence. 
Shortly  after  the  passage  of  the  act,  pig  iron  had  dropped 
four  to  five  dollars  a  ton,  and  wool  two  cents  a  pound.^ 
Factories  began  to  curtail  their  production."  It  was  noted 
that  furnaces  in  the  Schuylkill  district  were  closing  and  that 
the  shipment  of  coal  was  decreasing.*  The  closing  of  a 
bale-rope  factory  in  Philadelphia  was  referred  to  as  "  The 
Dallas  Night  Cap  "  and  the  decrease  in  the  shipment  of 
coal  as  "  The  Free  Trade  Blight." '  The  attempt  of  the 
Democrats  to  prove  that  the  Whigs  were  endeavoring  to 
create  a  panic  met  with  little  success."  The  argument  of 
the  Democrats  that  the  Tariff  Act  of  1846  protected  the 
agriculturalist,  while  the  act  which  had  been  repealed  had 

1  Public  Ledger,  February  26,  1846. 

*  Butler  Whig,  August  5,  1846.     The  decline  in  prices  was  constantly- 
stressed  by  the  United  States  Gazette,  August  3,  5,  22,  1846. 

»  United  States  Gazette,  July  31,  1846. 

*  Miners'  Journal,  August  i ;  North  American,  September  18;  United 
States  Gazette,  August  28,  1846. 

^ North  American,  September  28,  1846. 

* Pennsylvanian,  July  30,  31,  August  i,  4,  7;   United  States  Gazette, 
August  4,  5,  1846. 


377]  TEXAS  AND  THE  TARIFF  131 

not  done  so,  attracted  slight  attention.^  Their  effort  to 
prove  this  because  of  the  sHght  rise  in  the  price  of  foodstuffs 
was,  inconsistently,  declared  by  the  Whigs  to  be  illogical  in- 
asmuch as  the  act  had  not  yet  gone  into  effect.*  It  was  con- 
tended that  on  election  day  the  American  workingmen  iii 
Pennsylvania  would  demand  "  An  American  Protective 
System;  the  Repeal  of  Walker's  British  Bill;  No  Special 
Legislation  for  Cotton  Growers;  Protection  of  Free  White 
Labor  above  that  of  Southern  Slave  Labor;  No  Sub- 
Treasury  Rags;  and  a  Currency  the  same  for  the  Rich  and 
Poor."  ' 

In  the  early  part  of  1846  it  seemed  possible  that  the  state 
might  be  divided  politically  into  two  sections  because  of  the 
railroad  question.  The  people  of  Pittsburgh  wanted  a 
charter  granted  to  the  Baltimore  and  Ohio  Railroad  for 
the  construction  of  a  branch  line  to  Pittsburgh.  The  citizensj 
of  Philadelphia,  fearing  that  some  of  the  western  trade 
might  be  diverted,  opposed  the  grant.  They  favored  the 
construction  of  a  railroad  from  Harrisburg  to  Pittsburgh, 
which  would  then  have  an  all-rail  connection  wth  Phila- 
delphia. The  citizens  of  western  Pennsylvania  were  paci- 
fied by  a  charter  to  the  Baltimore  and  Ohio  Railroad  Com- 
pany, contingent,  however,  upon  the  failure  of  the  new" 
railroad,  the  Pennsylvania,  to  secure  the  required  capital 
by  a  specified  day.  In  the  meantime,  they  secured  a  modi- 
fication of  an  existing  charter  and  under  its  provisions  pro- 
ceeded to  construct  the  desired  outlet  for  Pittsburgh.''     One 

'^  Fennsylvanian,  July  30,  August  i,   1846. 

*  Daily  Commercial  Journal,  September  28,  1840. 

*  North  American,  October  10,  1846.  On  August  6  it  called  the  act  of 
1846  "  the  late  proclamation  of  war  against  the  laborers  of  the  North." 
On  August  10  it  claimed  that  the  administration  journals  were  rais- 
ing "the  banner  of  Slavery  against  Freedom — the  South  against  thd 
North — the  whip  and  shackle  against  the  loom  and  shuttle." 

*  Public  Ledger,  January  14,  February  18,  25,  27,  \rarch  5,  6,  .Vpril  13, 
\fay  6,  July  8.  14;  Daily  Commercial  Journal,  March  i,  19,  20,  23,  25, 
27,  April  9,  24,  28,  October  22,  1846. 


132  THE  WHIG  PARTY  IN  PENNSYLVANIA  [378 

of  tlie  Democratic  journals  of  Philadelphia  attempted  to 
make  this  an  issue  in  raising  the  cry,  "  Power  and  Pitts- 
burgh! Foster  and  Philadelphia!"^  In  the  election  for 
municipal  officers  of  Philadelphia  city,  the  question  arose 
whether  the  city  as  a  corporation  could  subscribe  to  the 
stock  of  the  Pennsylvania  Railroad."  A  "  Railroad  "  and 
an  "  Anti-Railroad "  ticket  were  formed  from  men  of 
the  three  parties.  The  candidates  were  pledged  for  or 
against  the  subscription.  Although  only  Whigs  were 
elected  to  the  select  comicil,  yet  those  whose  names  were  on 
the  "  Railroad  "  ticket  received  a  thousand  more  votes  than 
the  other  Whig  candidates.' 

The  Whigs  made  nominations  in  all  the  congressional  dis- 
tricts, save  in  that  represented  by  Wilmot,  where  they  en- 
dorsed a  tariff  Democrat.  The  Natives  ran  candidates  inl 
eight  of  the  eleven  districts  in  the  southeastern  portion  of 
the  state  and  also  a  candidate  in  the  Allegheny  district. 
In  five  of  the  congressional  districts  of  western  Pennsyl- 
vania and  in  the  four  Philadelphia  districts,  the  Liberty 
party  had  candidates.*  The  four  Philadelphia  Congress^ 
men  were  all  elected  by  minorities;  the  Natives  and  the 
Whigs  secured  one  each  and  the  Democrats  the  otlier  two. 
Of  the  remaining  twenty  Congressmen  of  the  state  the  De- 
mocrats secured  only  five.  In  the  Twenty-ninth  Congress! 
the  Democrats  had  controlled  twelve  of  the  twenty-four 
members  from  the  state,  in  the  coming  Congress  they  would 
have  only  seven. ^     David  Wilmot,  who  alone  of  the  Pennr 

*  Daily  Keystone  and  People's  Journal,  October  13,  1846. 

2  United  States  Gazette,  June  18,  October  9,  1846;  Binney,  Life  of 
Horace  Binncy,  pp.  246,  ct  seq. 

^Public  Ledger,  October  10,  15,  1846. 

*  Ibid.,  October  8,  13,  1846. 

^  Election  returns  from  the  Pennsylvania  quoted  in  Niks'  Register, 
vol.  Ixxi,  p.  150. 


379]  TEXAS  AND  THE  TARIFF  I33 

sylvania  delegation  in  Congress  had  voted  for  the  Tariff 
Bill  of  1846,  was  returned.^  The  election  to  the  legisla- 
ture resulted  favorably  for  the  Whigs,  for  they  would  con- 
trol eighteen  of  the  thirty-three  senators  and  fifty-six  of  the 
one  hundred  representatives.^  The  Whig  candidate  for 
the  office  of  canal  commissioner  was  elected  by  a  plurality 
of  more  than  7,500."  He  was  the  only  canal  commissioner 
the  Whigs  elected. 

The  vote  cast  at  this  election  was  small,  which  may  in 
some  degree  be  accounted  for  by  the  inclement  weather,'* 
The  small  vote  was,  however,  chiefly  due  to  the  disgust  of 
the  electorate.  The  total  vote  was  approximately  20,000 
less  than  in  1845  when  there  had  been  no  congressional 
elections.  The  Whig  vote  was  about  7,500  more  than  in 
1845,  the  Native  American  about  7,000  less,  and  the  Demo^ 
crats  registered  a  loss  of  more  than  20,000.  Many  of  the 
strongest  Democratic  counties  were  in  this  election  carried 
by  the  Whigs,  clearly  indicating  disgust  with  the  course 
pursued  by  the  Democracy  on  the  tariff.  The  election  also 
showed  that  the  Native  American  party  could  not  hope  to 
assume  any  dignity  even  in  state  politics.  Over  14,000  of 
their  15,000  votes  came  from  Philadelphia  city  and  county; 
the  balance  came  from  a  few  strong  Whig  counties.'' 

*  Ex-Governor  Porter  was  alleged  to  have  said  that  Wilmot's  district 
went  for  free  trade  because  "  in  that  region  of  country  the  only 
thing  the  people  manufactured  were  shingles,  and  they  stole  the 
lumber  to  make  them,  ai>d  the  only  protection  they  wanted  was  pro- 
tection from  the  officers  of  justice!"  North  American,  November  ift, 
1846. 

*  Public  Ledger,  January  6,  1&47. 

•Official  returns:  Power  (Whig)  97,963;  Foster  (Dem.)  89,064; 
Morton  (Nat,  Am.)  15,424;  Elder  (Liberty)  2,028;  ibid.,  October  27, 
1846. 

*  Pennsylvanian,  October  16,  1846. 

*  The  Natives  reelected  Levin  to  Congress,  but  elected  no  member  of 
the  legislature. 


134  THE  WHIG  PARTY  IN  PENNSYLVANIA  [380 

When  the  legislature  met  in  January,  1847,  it  was  fully 
under  the  control  of  the  Whigs.  They  were  urged  to  ex- 
l>editc  business,  to  make  the  session  short,  and  to  grant  no 
charters,  which  would,  at  any  rate,  be  vetoed  by  the  Demo- 
cratic governor/  On  March  3,  1847,  the  governor  signed 
a  bill  affecting  the  status  of  slaves  within  the  state.  The  act 
made  kidnaping  a  high  misdemeanor  and  provided  heavy 
penalties  therefor.  Judges  were  authorized  to  issue  writs 
of  habeas  corptis  and  to  inquire  into  the  cause  of  imprison- 
ment of  any  human  being  within  the  commonwealth.  It 
denied  the  use  of  the  state  jails  for  the  detention  of 
captured  fugitive  slaves.  It  repealed  the  portions  of  the 
sojourning  act  of  March  i,  1780,  which  had  allowed  slaves 
to  be  brought  into  and  retained  within  the  commonwealth 
for  a  period  of  six  months.  The  act  also  permitted  slaves 
to  be  witnesses  in  judicial  proceedings.*  The  bill  passed 
both  the  senate  and  the  house  without  a  roll-call  and  re- 
ceived the  signature  of  the  Democratic  governor.^  It  was 
claimed  that  the  act  was  made  necessary  by  the  decision  of 
the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States  in  the  case  of 
Prigg  V.  Pennsylvania,  whicli  had  been  handed  down  in 
1842.  The  decision  held  that  the  state  act  of  March  25, 
1826,*  which  provided  for  state  assistance  in  the  rendition 
of  fugitive  slaves,  was  unconstitutional  on  the  ground  that 
the  rendition  of  fugitive  slaves  was  a  subject  for  exclusive 

^  North  American,  October  27,  1846. 

*  Session  Laws,  1847,  p.  206;  the  act  was  entitled  "  An  act  to  prevent 
kidnapping,  preserve  the  public  peace,  prohibit  the  exercise  of  certain 
powers  heretofore  exercised  by  judges,  justices  of  the  peace,  alder- 
men and  jailors  in  this  commonwealth,  and  to  repeal  certain  slave 
laws."  Cf.  Turner,  The  Negro  in  Pennsylvania,  pp.  227-249,  for  the 
history  of  the  rendition  of  fugitive  slaves  from  the  state. 

*  House  Journal,  1847,  vol.  i,  pp.  76,  207,  355,  394;  Senate  Journal 
1847,  vol.  i,  pp.  217,  312.  343. 

*  Session  Laws,  1825-26,  p.  15a 


38i]  TEXAS  AND  THE  TARIFF  135 

federal  legislation/  It  must  be  borne  in  mind  that  the  act 
of  March  3,  1847,  was  passed  five  years  after  the  decision 
of  the  Supreme  Court,  and  that  it  followed  hard  on  the 
passage  of  the  Tariff  Act  of  1846.  The  act  must,  therefore, 
be  considered  as  the  reply  of  the  state  to  the  repeal  of  the 
Tariff  Act  of  1842.  The  support  of  the  Tariff  Act  of  1842 
had  been  non-partisan,  so  the  adoption  of  the  act  of  March 
3,  1847,  was  not  a  party  measure.  The  passage  of  the  act 
together  with  the  fact  that  the  Democrats  in  this  legislature 
joined  in  endorsing  the  Wilmot  Proviso  indicates  how 
complete  the  disorganization  of  the  Democracy  within  the 
state  was  as  a  result  of  the  passage  of  the  Tariff  Act  of 
1846.  From  this  disorganization  the)^  were  to  recover, 
however,  before  the  end  of  the  year.  The  repeal  of  the 
Tariff  Act  of  1842  had  given  the  Whig  party  of  the  state 
a  moment  of  triumph,  but  it  made  the  party  anti-slavery. 

»  16  Peters  539. 


CHAPTER  IV 
A  Political  Interlude 

1 847- 1 848. 

The  war  with  Mexico  called  attention  to  the  question  of 
slavery  in  the  territory,  which  it  was  assumed  would  be 
acquired.  Although  the  war  was  in  progress  during  the 
political  campaign  of  1846,  yet  none  of  its  issues  entered 
directly  into  the  struggle,  which  was  fought  on  the  repeal 
of  the  Tariff  Act  of  1842.  Although  the  Whigs  of  the  state 
questioned  the  justice  of  the  course  of  the  President  in 
asserting  that  the  Rio  Grande  was  the  boimdary  of  the 
United  States,  yet,  when  the  assertion  of  this  claim  led  to 
war,  they  urged  all  to  join  in  the  defense  of  their  country. 
One  of  their  leading  journals  in  Philadelphia  said, 

The  war  was  uncalled  for,  but  being  declared,  there  is  but 
one  duty  for  every  man  who  claims  the  name  of  American 
(and  is  not  conscientiously  scrupulous  on  the  subject  of  arms), 
he  must  aid  to  carry  on  that  war  with  vigor,  that  its  termin- 
ation may  be  the  more  speedily  secured.  Our  country,  our 
whole  country,  and  nothing  but  our  country,  when  she  is  en- 
dangered by  a  war,  no  matter  how  that  war  happened.  But 
let  us  not,  in  our  enthusiasm,  forget  the  high  duties  of  patriots 
and  men.  Let  us  not  fall  into  the  miserable  error  of  supposing 
that  success  in  a  campaign,  is  a  justification  of  war.^ 

•  United  States  Gazette,  May  27,  i&4i6;  ibid.,  May  8,  11,  12,  13,  16,  19, 
20,  June  3,  July  i,  November  24,  December  10;  Daily  Commercial 
Journal,  May  13;  North  American,  November  25,  December  17,  18; 
Pennsylvania  Telegraph,  June  3,  17,  1846. 

136  [382 


383]  ^  POLITICAL  INTERLUDE  1 37 

Opposition  to  the  annexation  of  any  territory,  even  that  of 
California,  was  freely  voiced.  The  people  inhabiting  thisl 
area  were  declared  to  be  unfit  to  become  citizens  of  the 
United  States/  A  Pittsburgh  journal  condemned  the  war 
and  urged  the  hastening  of  peace. 

The  spoliation  of  Mexico  has  assumed  the  attitude  of  a  wrong ; 
and  whether  in  nations  or  individuals,  wrong  if  persisted  in 
cannot  prosper.  Let  peace  be  concluded  with  Mexico — on  no 
grinding  terms  either,  but  such  as  it  would  become  the  gener- 
osity of  a  great  nation  to  grant  to  a  prostrate  though  gallant 
foe.^ 

The  insistence  of  the  Whigs  upon  inquiring  into  the  causes 
of  the  war  led  to  their  being  charged  by  the  Democrats 
with  a  lack  of  patriotism  and  to  their  being  branded  Federa- 
lists; both  of  which  charges  they,  of  course,  vigorously 
denied.^  ' 

On  August  8,  1846,  a  two-million-dollar  appropriation 
bill  for  the  purpose  of  conducting  preliminary  peace  nego- 
tiations with  Mexico  passed  the  House  of  Representa- 
tives, although  the  Wilmot  Proviso  had  been  attached  to 
it.  Not  a  dissenting  vote  from  Pennsylvania  was  cast 
against  the  measure.*  The  bill  was  before  the  Senate  when 
Congress   adjourned.     The   comments   on   the   bill,    made 

^ North  American,  June  6,  12,  1846. 

^  Daily  Commercial  Journal,  July  25,  1846. 

^Ibid.,  June  8;  North  American,  November  ll,  13,  25,  28,  December 
18,  22,  1846,  January  22,  February  i,  1847.  In  its  issue  of  November 
II,  1846,  the  North  American  printed  a  fictitious  address  signed  by 
twenty-eight  leading  Democrats.  The  address  stated  that  the  signers, 
old  Federalists,  have  secured  control  of  the  Democratic  party  and 
they  now  ask  for  the  support  of  all  former  Federalists.  The  allcsecf 
signers  from  Pennsylvania  are  James  Buchanan,  William  Wilkins, 
iRichard  Rush,  John  M.  Read,  Henry  D.  Gilpin,  John  K.  Kane,  and 
Ellis  Lewis.  ^  (  I 

*  House  Journal,  29th  Congress,  1st  session,  p.  1284. 


1^8  THE  WHIG  PARTY  IN  PENNSYLVANIA  [384 

by  the  Whig  press,  were  criticisms  on  the  purpose  of  the  ap- 
propriation and  not  on  the  proviso/  When  it  became  evident 
that  the  acquisition  of  territory  would  be  one  of  the  results 
of  the  war,  the  adoption  of  the  proviso,  not  as  a  Whig  but 
as  a  Northern  measure,  was  advocated.^  A  resolution^ 
adopted  by  the  state  legislature  on  January  22,  1847,  i^" 
structed  the  Senators  and  requested  the  Representatives  "  to 
vote  against  any  measure  whatever,  by  which  territory  will 
accrue  to  the  Union,  unless,  as  a  part  of  the  fundamental 
law  upon  which  any  compact  or  treaty  for  this  purpose  is 
based,  slavery  or  involuntary  servitude,  except  for  crime, 
shall  be  forever  prohibited."  ^  The  adoption  of  this  reso- 
lution was  not  a  partisan  measure,  for  it  passed  the  house 
by  a  vote  of  96  to  o,  and  the  senate  by  a  vote  of  24  to  3.* 

During  the  second  session  of  the  Twenty-ninth  Congress 
another  appropriation  bill,  but  for  three  million  dollars,  to 
conduct  preliminary  peace  negotiations  was  introduced. 
When  the  Wilmot  Proviso  was  attached  in  the  House  to  this 
bill,  the  North  American  was  led  to  exclaim,  "  The  Freedom 
Proviso  has  again  been  attached  to  the  Bribery  Bill."  ' 
Five  of  the  Pennsylvania  Democrats  in  the  House  voted 
against  the  adoption  of  the  proviso.®  When  the  bill  was 
returned  to  the  House  with  the  proviso  rejected  by  the 
Senate,  the  House  failed  to  sustain  its  former  vote. 
Amongst  those  who  changed  their  votes  were  three  Demo- 

^  North  American,  August  17;  Daily  Commercial  Journal,  August  II, 

1846.  The  latter  paper  said  Polk  had  started  to  conquer  a  peace  but 
now  he  proposed  to  buy  one. 

'North  American,  January  18,  1847. 

*  Session  Laws,  1847,  p.  489. 

*This    resolution   was   introduced   by   a   Democrat.     House  Journal, 

1847,  vol.  i,  p.  143;  Senate  Journal,  1847,  vol.  i,  p.  up. 

^February  10,  1847. 

•  Analysis  of  vote  in  North  American,  February  19,  1847. 


385]  ^  POLITICAL  INTERLUDE  1 39 

crats  from  Pennsylvania.^  The  defeat  of  the  proviso  was 
attributed  to  the  failure  of  the  Democrats  to  stand  by  their 
previously  expressed  opinion.^  The  Twenty-ninth  Con- 
gress, it  was  stated,  had  been  particularly  under  the  con- 
trol of  the  South.  "  Every  measure  of  the  North  and 
West  was  strangled  either  by  the  votes  of  Congress  or  the 
Executive  Veto."  ' 

The  shifting  of  the  Democracy  in  Pennsylvania  from 
support  of  to  opposition  to  the  Wilmot  Proviso  has  been 
mdicated  by  the  voting  in  Congress.  Definite  argument 
against  the  measure  was  furnished  in  a  letter  from  Buchanan 
to  the  Democrats  of  Berks  county,  who  on  August  28, 
1847,  were  holding  a  Harvest  Home  Festival  at  Reading. 
Buchanan  urged  the  extension  of  the  Missouri  Compromise 
line  through  the  territory  which  might  be  acquired  from 
Mexico.  He  had  previously  advocated  the  plan  at  cabinet 
meetings,  winning  the  President  to  its  support.  He  claimed 
that  the  nature  of  the  region  and  the  type  of  immigrants 
who  would  be  attracted  to  the  area  would  be  a  bar  to 
slavery;  consequently  it  was  unwise  to  agitate  for  the  pro- 
viso.'' Dallas  in  a  speech  at  Pittsburgh  took  position  with 
Lewis  Cass  and  others  and  advocated  "  leaving  to  the  people 
of  the  territory  to  be  acquired  the  business  of  settling  the 
matter  for  themselves."  '^  The  anti-slavery  Whigs  con- 
sidered the  proviso  the  means  of  deciding  the  conflict  be- 
tween free  and  slave  labor.  At  this  time  there  occurred  at 
the  Tredegar  Iron  Works,    Richmond,   Virginia,   a  strike 

*  Analysis  of  vote  in  Miles'  Register,  vol.  Ixxii,  p.  18. 

*  North   American,    March    15,    17;    Lancaster    Union    and    Tribune, 
March  23,  1847. 

*  Daily  Commercial  Journal,  March  6,  1847. 

*  Moore,   Works  of  James  (■lucfuman,  vol.  vii,  p.  385;  Polk's  Diary, 
vol.  ii,  pp.  308-9,  334-5- 

*  Public  Ledger,  September  29,  1847. 


I^o  THE  WHIG  PARTY  IN  PENNSYLVANIA  [386 

because  of  the  introduction  of  slave  labor  into  several  de- 
partments of  the  plant.  This  strike  in  the  home  of  slave 
labor  was  held  clearly  to  illustrate  the  inherent  conflict  be- 
tween free  and  slave  labor/ 

On  the  question  of  the  tariff  the  Democrats  were  taking 
new  ground.  In  the  election  of  1846  they  had  been  com- 
pletely disorganized  and  had  had  no  defense  against  the 
attacks  of  the  Whigs.  Now  they  were  beginning  to  argue 
that  the  Tariff  Act  of  1846  was  an  excellent  one.^  The  basis 
for  this  claim  was  the  high  prices  obtained  for  foodstuffs,  as 
a  result  of  the  failure  of  the  crops  in  Europe.  The  exten- 
sion of  the  railroads  and  the  substitution  of  solid  for  plate 
rails  were  beneficial  to  the  iron  industry.^     To  the  charge 

^  Daily  Commercial  Journal,  June  8,  1847;  the  proceedings  and  com- 
munications of  the  strikers  are  in  the  Richmond  Enquirer,  May  29, 
1847.  The  Whigs  declared  the  proviso  was  nothing  new  as  it  contained 
Jefferson's  anti-slavery  resolutions  of  1784;  North  American,  August 
13,  1847- 

'  Even  the  Spirit  of  the  Times,  which  the  year  before  had  shouted, 
"Repeal  is  the  word,"  took  this  position;  September  6,  11;  York 
Gazette,  October  5,  1847.  The  Whigs  in  the  legislature  had  not  been 
able  to  have  resolutions,  favoring  the  restoration  of  the  tariff  of  1842, 
adopted.  The  Whig  majority  of  the  special  committee  in  the  senate, 
to  which  was  referred  so  much  of  the  governor's  message  as  related 
to  the  tariff,  reported  as  follows  to  the  senate:  "'  Polk,  Dallas,  Shunk, 
and  the  Tariff  of  18142!'  was  their  battle  cry  in  our  State,  and  (ad- 
mitting that  no  frauds  were  committed  at  the  polls)  the  people  of 
Pennsylvania  decided  in  favor  of  the  Ekmocratic  candidates.  But 
their  vote  was  for  Polk,  Dallas,  Shunk,  and  the  tariff  of  1842.  The 
tariff  was  as  much  a  part  of  the  ticket  voted,  as  if  it  had  been  printed 
on  it,  and  but  for  it  the  then  candidates,  whose  names  were  thus  con- 
nected witli  it,  would  now  be  in  the  obscurity  of  private  life."  Senate 
Journal,  1847,  vol.  i,  p.  252.  The  Democratic  minority  reported,  "  I£ 
'Polk,  Dallas,  Shunk,  and  the  tariff  of  1842',  were  in  any  instance 
adopted  as  the  '  battle  cry '  of  the  democracy,  it  was  rather  as  idle 
bravado  than  the  deUberate  manifestation  of  political  sentiment."  Ibid., 
p.  427. 

3  Jesse  Miller,  November  9,  1846,  to  Buchanaji,  Buchanan  Mss;  R.  I. 
Arundel,  October  15,  1847,  to  John  McLean,  McLean  Papers,  Lib.  of 
Cong.;  Daily  Commercial  Journal,  October  28,  November  22;  Spirit 
of  the  Times,  September  11,  1847. 


387]  A  POLITICAL  INTERLUDE  I4I 

that  their  dire  predictions  of  1846  had  not  materialized,  the 
Whigs  replied  that  the  Democrats  had  made  the  same  pro- 
phecies/ The  fact  that  prices  were  high  could  not  be 
denied  and  warnings  of  a  dismal  future  received  little  at- 
tention. 

Although  the  four  parties  made  nominations  for  gov- 
ernor and  canal  commissioner,  yet  the  contest  lay  between 
the  Democrats  and  the  Whigs.  For  governor  the  Whigs 
nominated  James  Irvin  and  for  canal  commissioner  Joseph 
H,  Patton.  Irvin  was  extensively  engaged  in  the  iron  in- 
dustry in  Centre  county,  was  a  strong  advocate  of  a  pro- 
tective tariff  and  consequently  would  appeal  to  the  like- 
minded  individuals  of  the  state.  Originally  a  Democrat, 
he  had  left  that  party  as  the  result  of  Jackson's  attack  on 
the  bank.  He  had  been  elected  to  the  Twenty-seventh  and 
the  Twenty-eighth  Congresses  and  had  supported  the  Tariff 
Act  of  1842.  The  Democrats  renominated  Governor 
Shunk  and  for  canal  commissioner  they  nominated  Morris 
Longstreth.  The  contest  was  more  bitterly  personal  than 
any  which  had  recently  preceded.*     Behind  these  recrimina- 

'  Daily  Commercial  Journal,  June  4,  1847. 

*  The  Democrats  made  the  following  charges  against  Irvin :  he  is,  "  i. 
An  Aristocratic  Iron  Master!  2.  The  Father  of  the  Bankrupt  Law! 
3.  The  Advocate  of  Taxing  Tea  and  Coffee!  4.  The  Reviler  of 
General  Jackson!  5.  The  Friend  of  Thaddeus  Stevens!  6.  The 
Supporter  of  the  Buckshot  War!  7.  The  Advocate  of  the  Gettysburg 
Railroad!  8.  The  Worshipper  of  a  United  States  Bank!  9.  The 
Trumpeter  of  his  own  Acts  of  Charity!  10.  An  Old-school,  Anti-war 
Federalist!  "  quoted  from  the  Bedford  Gazette  in  the  North  American, 
August  19,  1847;  other  Democratic  attacks  American  Volunteer^  Sep- 
tember 16;  York  Gazette,  October  5;  Spirit  of  the  Times,  October  12; 
Lancaster  Intcllignicer,  August  24.  September  21,  1847.  For  Whig 
attacks  cf.  North  American,  April  7,  8,  May  18,  25,  June  10.  22,  July  2, 
3,  September  11,  16,  17,  23,  25,  27,  October  2,  6;  Miners'  Journal. 
March  20;  Butler  Whig,  May  26;  Daily  Commercial  Journal,  September 
27,  28,  29,  30,  1847- 


J42  ^^^  WHIG  PARTY  IN  PENNSYLVANIA  [388 

tions  was  the  effort  of  the  Whigs  to  make  the  tariff  and 
the  Wihnot  Proviso  the  issues  of  the  campaign.^  In  this 
they  failed,  and  Shunk  was  reelected  by  a  plurality  of  more 
than  18,000  votes.^  The  total  vote  was  42,000  less  than  in 
1844,  but  80,000  more  than  in  1846.  The  decline  in  the 
vote  of  the  Native  American  party  continued.  The  legis- 
lature did  not  pass  into  the  hands  of  the  Democrats;  they 
secured  control  of  the  house,  but  the  senate,  due  to  hold- 
overs, remained  Whig.^ 

In  the  main,  the  Whigs  contended  that  the  victory  of 
their  opponents  was  temporary  and  indecisive.  "  It  has 
been  induced  by  the  false  confidence  in  the  high  prices  for 
produce  consequent  ujkmi  the  famine  in  Europe,"  said  one.* 
A  leading  Democratic  journal  in  the  eastern  portion  of  the 
state  declared,  "  The  sovereign  people  have  recorded  their 
verdict  upon  the  War  with  Mexico,  the  Tariff  of  '46,  the 
Sub-Treasury,  as  well  as  Federal  treason  to  our  native 
land !  "  '  Despondently  a  Whig  paper  in  the  western  part 
of  the  state  replied,  "  It  is  even  so.  Pennsylvania  adheres 
to  Polk,  Dallas,  and  Buchanan — repudiates  the  Wilmot 
Proviso,  though  introduced  by  one  of  her  own  represen- 
tatives— adheres  to  tliis  wicked  war  of  conquest  and  land 

*  Daily  Commercial  Journal,  September  20,  October  12;  North  Ameri- 
can^ June  12,  July  3,  17;  York  Gazette,  October  5,  1847. 

*  S mull's  Legislative  Hand-Book,  1919,  p.  720;  the  official  returns  for 
governor  were:  Francis  R.  Shunk  (Dcm.)  146,081;  James  Irvin 
(Whig)  128,148;  E.  C.  Reigart  (Nat.  Am.)  11,247;  F.  J.  Lamoyne 
(Liberty)  1,861;  scattering  6.  A  number  of  former  Anti-Masons!  sup- 
ported Reigart  in  preference  to  Irvin. 

3  North  American,  January  4,  iSqB.  In  the  senate  were  19  Whig^, 
and  14  Democrats ;  in  the  house  36  Whigs,  and  64  Democrats.  Wm. 
F.  Johnston,  a  former  Democrat,  was  .sent,  by  a  small  majority,  to  the 
senate  from  a  normally  Democratic  district. 

*  Ibid.,  October  16,  1847. 

*  Spirit  of  the  Times,  October  15,  1847. 


389]  ^  POLITICAL  INTERLUDE  143 

robbery — and  covers  with  its  large  popular  sanction  even 
the  enormous  maladministration  of  this  war,  which  it  ap- 
proves." ^  The  Whigs  had  failed  in  raising  these  issues, 
for  they  had  determined  to  conduct  a  quiet  campaign, 
with  the  result  that  the  Democrats  polled  a  larger  percentage 
of  their  full  strength.^ 

Attention  for  some  time  had  l>een  directed  to  the  presi- 
dential election  of  1848.  The  news  had  scarcely  reached 
the  country  that  General  Taylor  had  won  several  battles 
from  the  Mexicans  before  he  was  placed  in  nomination 
for  the  presidency  by  a  mass  meeting  at  Trenton,  New 
Jerse}^^  As  his  military  success  continued,  he  became  a 
stronger  and  stronger  presidential  possibility;  but  it  was 
not  knwvn  to  what  party  he  professed  to  belong.  There 
was  no  doubt  but  that  Buchanan  would  again  endeavor  ta 
secure  the  endorsement  of  the  state  for  the  presidential  nom- 
ination at  the  next  Democratic  national  convention.  There 
was,  however,  a  strong  faction  in  the  state,  led  by  Simon 
Cameron,  ex-Governor  Porter,  ex-Secretary  of  War  J.  M. 
Porter,  Reah  Frazer,  and  Henry  A.  Muhlenberg,  which 
oposed  Buchanan's  control  of  the  Democracy  in  the  state. 
They  decided,  inasmuch  as  the  nature  of  Taylor's  politics 
was  not  known,  to  avail  themselves  of  his  growing  popu- 
larity to  overthrow  Buchanan.  Taylors  military  achieve- 
ments would  make  him  all  the  more  attractive,  as  General 
Scott  was  frequently  mentioned  for  the  Whig  nomination. 
On  April  25,  1847,  Cameron  wrote  a  letter  to  the  editor  of 
the  Norristoivn  Register,  in  which  he  stated  his  belief  that 
Taylor  was  a  Democrat.*     To  give  defmiteness  to  the  move- 

^  Daily  Commercial  Journal,  October  21,   1847. 

*  Pennsylvania  Inquirer,  October  20,  1847 ;  McClure,  Old  Time  Notes, 
vol.  i,  p.  171. 

*  Miles'  Register,  vol.  Ixx,  p.  256. 

*  Republished  in  the  Daily  Commercial  Journal,  June  4,  i847- 


144  THE  WHIG  PARTY  IN  PENNSYLVANIA  [390 

ment,  a  convention  assembled  early  in  July  at  Harrisburg; 
a  "  Democratic  Taylor  Central  Committee  "  was  appointed 
to  organize  the  movement/  It  decided  to  hold  a  Demo- 
cratic Taylor  mass  meeting  at  Harrisburg  on  September  24, 
1847.  The  mass  meeting  enthusiastically  endorsed  Taylor 
for  the  presidency.' 

In  the  meantime,  the  Native  Americans  had  assembled  at 
Pittsburgh  on  May  11,  1847,  i^  what  they  grandiloquently 
called  a  national  convention.*  Letters  had  previously  been 
written  to  leading  politicians  asking  them  whether  they 
would  accept  the  nomination  of  the  party  for  the  presidency, 
if  it  were  unanimously  given  them.  The  recipients  of  this 
offer  either  rejected  it  or  neglected  to  answer  the  letter 
making  it.*  At  this  convention  no  nomination  was  made, 
and  an  adjournment  was  made  to  Philadelphia,  where  the 
convention  was  to  reassemble  on  September  10.  In  the 
interval  between  the  two  conventions,  the  president  of  the 

^Pennsylvania  Inquirer^  July  31,  August  6,  1847.  On  the  committee 
were  the  following  prominent  Democrats :  Seth  Salisbury,  John  M. 
jRead,  Richard  Vaux,  Simon  Cameron,  Ellis  Lewis,  George  Kremer, 
H.  B.  Wright,  and  Henry  A.  Muhlenberg. 

i  Evening  Bulletin,  October  6,  1847. 

*  Daily  Commercial  Journal,  May  12,  1847.  Delegates  from  Pennsyl- 
vania, New  York,  Kentucky,  Illinois,  Indiana,  and  Massachusetts  were 
said  to  be  present 

■*  Peter  Sken  Smith  acted  as  chief  interrogator.  On  March  16,  1847, 
h€  wrote  John  McLean,  who  replied  that  he  considered  such  an  early 
nomination  of  doubtful  value;  McLean  Papers,  Lib.  of  Cong.  On 
March  19  a  letter  was  sent  to  Henry  Clay,  who  on  April  2  refused 
to  consider  the  offer.  On  March  26  Commodore  Charles  Stewart  de- 
clined the  offer  in  Smith's  letter  of  March  18.  On  May  i  Smith  re- 
ceived a  reply  from  Ogden  Edwards  stating  that  he  considered  the 
time  inauspicious  for  a  nomination.  Letters  published  in  the  Daily 
Commercial  Journal,  September  15,  1847.  On  April  24,  John  C.  Cal- 
houn was  sent  one  of  these  letters,  which  he  apparently  nevei* 
answered;  Report  of  the  American  Historical  Society,  1899,  vol.  ii, 
p.  1 1 16. 


391  ]  ^  POLITICAL  INTERLUDE  I45 

convention  inquired  of  General  Taylor  whether  he  would 
accept  the  nomination  if  it  were  tendered  him.  On  July 
13  Taylor  replied,  in  his  usual  form,  that  he  would  yield 
to  the  wishes  of  the  people/  Upon  the  reassembling  of 
the  convention  at  Philadelphia,  General  Taylor  was  "  pro- 
posed "  as  the  "  People's  Candidate  "  for  the  presidency  and 
General  H.  A.  S,  Dearborn  was  nominated  by  the  Native 
Americans  for  the  vice-presidency.^  The  Native  Americans 
were  now  in  a  position  to  cooperate  with  the  Taylor  De- 
mocrats or  any  other  group  favoring  Taylor  for  the  presi- 
dency. 

On  February  22,  1848,  there  assembled  at  Harrisburg  a 
"  Peoples'  Convention,"  over  which  James  M.  Porter  pre- 
sided. The  members  of  the  convention  were  chiefly  Native 
Americans  and  anti-Buchanan  Democrats.  An  electoral 
ticket  pledged  to  Taylor  was  reported  and  a  central  com- 
mittee was  formed.^  But  the  hopes  of  the  Taylor  Demo- 
crats were  soon  blighted ;  on  the  same  day,  at  a  Whig  cele- 
bration at  Philadelphia,  Taylor's  letter  of  August  3,  1847, 
to  Joseph  R.  Ingersoll  was  read.  In  this  letter  Taylor 
endorsed  Ingersoll's  statement  on  the  floor  of  Congress  that 
Taylor  was  "  a  Whig — not  indeed  an  ultra-partisan  Whig — ■ 
but  a  Whig  in  principle."  *  The  Democrats  in  the  Taylor 
movement  individually  began  immediately  to  reject  him  on 
the  ground  that  he  had  declared  that  he  was  not  a  Democrat.^ 
After  the  nomination  of  Taylor  by  the  Whigs,  this  prior 
endorsement  of  Taylor  by  these  Democrats  was  given  due 
publicity  by  the  Whigs.' 

^  Daily  Commercial  Journal,  September  15,  iR.{7. 

*  American  Press  and  Republican,  September  18,  1S47. 

*  Public  Ledger,  February  2Z,  25,  1848. 

*  Xilcs'  Register,  vol.  Ixxiii.  p.  407. 

'  Letter  of  Henry  A,  Muhlenberg',  datcfl  March  2.  iS|S    in  the  Daily 
Commercial  Journal,  March  15,  184S. 

*  Ibid.,  November  6,  1848. 


146  THE  WHIG  PARTY  IN  PENNSYLVANIA  [392 

The  Whigs  of  the  eastern  portion  of  the  state  were  like- 
wise considering  Taylor  as  a  favorite  candidate  for  the  pre- 
sidency. On  April  10,  1847,  he  was  endorsed  for  that  office 
by  a  convention  of  the  "  Democratic  Whigs  of  the  City  and 
County  of  Philadelphia."  ^  No  further  action  was  taken 
this  year.  At  the  Buena  Vista  Festival  of  February  22, 
1848,  at  Philadelphia,  at  which  Taylor's  letter  declaring 
that  he  was  a  Whig  was  read,  one  of  the  speakers  after 
condemning  Clay  for  his  Lexington  speech  said  he  had  three 
reasons  for  urging  his  audience  to  support  Taylor;  they 
were,  "  i.  Because  he  is  honest  and  capable;  2.  because  he 
is  a  Whig;  3.  because  he  can  be  elected."  " 

In  the  western  part  oi  the  state,  Scott  and  Clay  appealed 
more  to  the  Whigs  than  did  Taylor ;  and  huge  mass  meetings 
endorsing  the  one  or  the  other  of  them  were  held.^  On 
March  i,  1848,  the  .Allegheny  county  convention  instructed 
its  delegate  to  the  national  convention  to  support  Clay.*  Itl 
was  not,  however,  until  April  10  that  Clay  announced  that 
he  would  allow  his  name  to  be  presented  to  the  Whig 
national  convention.^  Previously,  however.  Clay  had  alien- 
ated many  of  his  admirers  by  delivering  on  November  13,. 
1847,  "^vhat  was  popularly  known  as  his  Lexington  speech. 
Li  it  he  condemned  the  President  for  pursuing  a  policy 
which  had  caused  the  war  and  for  conducting  it  without 
properly  consulting  Congress.  The  war  was  declared  to 
be  one  not  of  defense  but  one  of  aggression.  If  Mexico 
were  conquered,  what  then?  To  the  forcible  annexation 
of  territory,  even  in  the  shape  of  an  indemnity,  he  was  op- 

^  North  American,  April  12,  1847. 

"^Public  Ledger,  February  24,  1848. 

'Ibid.,  February  29;  Daily  Commercial  I ournal,  February  3,  24,  1848. 

^  Daily  Commercial  Journal,  March  2,  1848. 

'^  North  American,  April  13,  1848,  for  Qay's  letter  to  the  public. 


393]  ^  POLITICAL  INTERLUDE  i^y 

posed.  If  the  people  of  the  United  States  desired  it,  CaH- 
fomia,  including  the  Bay  of  San  Francisco,  should  be  pur- 
chased. The  purposes  of  the  war  should  be  proclaimed  by 
Congress  and  the  war  should  be  continued  only  until  these 
aims  had  been  accomplished.  Throughout  the  speech  there 
was  an  insistence  on  the  Whig  principle  that  the  Executive 
be  controlled  by  Congress.^  Whig  opinion  on  the  speech  was 
divided.  On  December  6,  1847,  a  large  mass  meeting  in 
Philadelphia  adopted  the  resolutions  which  Clay  had  pro- 
posed in  his  speech,-  but  the  mass  meeting  of  February  22, 
1848,  declared  that  the  speech  had  made  him  a  presidential 
impossibility.  One  of  his  ardent  admirers  in  the  western 
part  of  the  state  affirmed  that  the  movement  in  his  favor 
had  been  ended,  for  "  our  conviction  is  that  this  speech 
settles  the  point — that  Mr.  Clay  cannot  be  nominated  as  the 
Whig  candidate — or,  if  nominated,  that  he  could  not  be 
electdd."  " 

On  March  15,  1848,  the  W  hig  state  convention  assembled 
at  Harrisburg.  Its  duties  were  to  nominate  a  candidate 
for  canal  commissioner,  to  select  senatorial  delegates  to  the 
national  convention,  and  to  form  an  electoral  ticket.  On 
the  second  ballot  Ner  Middleswarth,  a  former  leader  of  the 
Anti-Masons,  was  chosen  as  the  standard  bearer.  The  con- 
vention refused  to  take  even  a  vote  on  its  preference  of  a 
presidential  candidate,  consequently  it  refused  to  instruct 
the  senatorial  delegates.  It  resolved,  ''  That  the  Whig  can- 
didate for  the  Presidency,  to  be  worthy  of  the  support  of 
the  Whig  party,  must  be  known  to  be  devoted  to  its  prin- 
ciples, willing  to  become  their  exponent  and  champion,  and 

^  Tlie  speech  is  reported  in  full  in  Pe'Utsylvania  Telegraph,  November 
30,  1847;  extracts  and  the  resolutions  are  in  Sargent,  Life  an  J  Public 
Services  of  Henry  Clay,  pp.  105,  et  seq. 

*  Evening  Bulletin,  December  7,  1&47. 

» Daily  Commercial  Journal,  December  2,  1847. 


148  THE  WHIG  PARTY  IN  PENNSYLVANIA  [30^4 

prepared  to  carry  them  faithfully  out  in  the  execution  of  his 
official  duties."  In  another  resolution  they  expressed  their 
belief  that  such  a  candidate  would  be  nominated  and  to  him 
they  pledged  the  support  o'f  Pennsylvania/  Many  doubts 
still  existed  as  to  the  Whig  orthodoxy  o^f  Taylor  and  these 
resolutions  were  an  attempt  to  meet  the  situation.  These 
doubts  wTre  somewhat  quieted  by  the  publication  of  his 
letter  of  April  22,  1848,  to  J.  S.  Allison  in  which  he  stated 
that  he  was  a  Whig  but  not  an  ultra  Whig." 

The  Whig  national  convention  had  been  called,  by 
caucuses  of  the  Whig  members  of  Congress  on  January  27 
and  February  3,  1848,  to  meet  at  Philadelphia  on  June  7.' 
The  convention  nominated  Taylor  and  Fillmore,  but  adopted 
no  resolutions.*  On  nO'  ballot  did  Taylor  receive  a  majority 
of  the  votes  from  the  Pennsylvania  delegates,  but  they 
naturally  pledged  their  united  support  to  him.^ 

Inasmuch  as  the  Whigs  had  nominated  Taylor,  the  way 
was  open  for  them  to  secure  the  votes  of  the  Native 
Americans  for  tlieir  candidate.  Prior  to  the  national  con- 
vention the  "  Whig  Rough  and  Ready  Club  of  the  City  and 
County  of  Philadelphia "  had  been  formed.®  After  the 
nomination  of  Taylor,  the  name  was  changed  to  the 
"  National    Rough    and    Ready    Club."     It    was    resolved, 

'  Proceedings  in  the  Public  Ledger,  March  16,  17,  1848. 

*  Daily  Commercial  Journal,  May  6,  1848. 
^  North  American,  February  J,  1848. 

*  Proceedings  in  Public  Ledger,  June  g,  10,  1848.  The  nominations 
split  the  Whig  party  in  Massacliusetts  and  for  a  time  threatened  to 
do  the  same  thing  in  New  York.  No  opposition  to  the  nominations 
developed  in  Pennsylvania. 

^  Pennsylvania's  vote  on  the  various  ballots  was  i.  Taylor  8;  Clay 
12;  Scott  6.  2.  Taylor  9;  Clay  7;  Scott  10.  3.  Taylor  12;  Clay  4; 
Scott  10.    4.  Taylor  12;  Gay  4;  Scott  10. 

8  North  American,  March  27,   1848. 


2^2 ]  A  POLITICAL  INTERLUDE  1 49 

"  That  the  friends  of  Taylor  and  Fillmore  be  invited  to  join 
the  Club  at  its  meetings,  and  become  members,  to  aid  in 
promoting  the  election  of  Zachary  Taylor,  of  Louisiana,  and 
Millard  Fillmore,  of  New  York."  ^  In  counties  other 
than  Philadelphia,  where  the  Native  Americans  had  effected 
an  organization,  the  same  policy  of  conciliation  was  pursued 
by  the  Whigs.  As  a  result  the  Native  Americans  did  not 
form  a  ticket  for  either  local  or  state  offices." 

Before  tlie  fall  elections  it  was  necessary  toi  make  ncjmina- 
tions  for  governor.  Governor  Shunk  was  sluwly  dying. 
On  Sunday,  July  9,  the  last  day  on  which  he  could  do  so  in 
order  to  make  an  election  possible  that  year,  the  governor 
resigned.^  The  Whigs  immediately  charged  their  opponents 
with  thrusting  themselves  on  the  dying  man  in  order  to 
secure  the  resignation.*  Some  of  the  Whigs  also  raised 
the  question  of  whether  it  would  be  possible  to  have  a  legal 
election  this  year  because  of  certain  technicalities  and  ambi- 
guities in  the  law.  William  F.  Johnston,  speaker  of  the 
senate,  who  had  become  acting  governor,  did  not  lend  him- 
self to  the  schemes  of  postponing  the  election  to  the  follow- 

1  Pennsylvania  Inquirer,  June  21,  1848. 

*  In  printing  the  list  of  candidates,  which  it  supported,  the  American 
Press  and  Republican  (Native  American),  September  9,  1848,  ct  scq., 
made  the  following  distinctions:  i.  "The  People's  Candidate  for  Presi- 
dent, Endorsed  by  the  Whig  National  Convention  " — Gen<?ral  Taylor. 
2.  "Whig  Nominations" — for  Vice-President,  Millard  Fillmore;  for 
canal  commissioner,  Ner  Middleswarth.  3.  "  Independent  Rough  and 
Ready  Electoral  Ticket."  4.  "  Rough  and  Ready  Nominations " — 
for  Governor,  Wm.  F.  Johnston;  for  Congress,  Thaddeus  Stevens;  for 
the  legislature. 

3  Pennsylvania  Archives,  series  iv,  vol.  vii,  pp.  275-6. 

*  North  American.  July  11,  13;  Miners'  Journal,  July  15;  Pennsylvania 
Inquirer,  July  11,  1848.  For  an  account,  by  a  witness,  of  the  secur- 
ing of  the  resignation,  cf.  DeWitt.  A  Discourse  on  the  Life  and 
Character  of  Francis  R.  Shunk,  p.  10. 


I^O  THE  WHIG  PARTY  IN  PENNSYLVANIA  [396 

ing  year,  so  on  August  12  he  issued  his  proclamation  calling 
for  an  election  in  the  Fall.^  He  had  earlier  indicated  that 
this  would  be  the  course  which  he  would  pursue.  There- 
fore, on  July  20,  the  Whig  state  central  committee  called  on 
the  "  friends  of  General  Zachary  Taylor  and  Millard  Fill- 
more in  the  State  of  Pennsylvania"  to  elect  delegates  to  a 
convention  to  meet  at  Harrisburg  on  August  31  to  name 
a  gubernatorial  candidate.^  The  convention  unanimously 
nominated  Johnston  on  the  first  ballot.  The  resolutions 
favored  a  protective  tariff,  opposed  the  extension  of  slavery, 
and  denounced  executive  usurpation."''  As  the  opponent  oi 
Johnston,  the  Democrats  after  a  warm  controversy  nomi- 
nated Morris  Longstreth.* 

The  nomination  of  Johnston  was  a  happy  one,  for  which 
the  way  had  been  previously  paved.  He  had  been  a  pro- 
tectionist Democrat  of  considerable  influence  in  the  western 
portion  of  the  state,  serving  a  number  oi  terms  in  the  lower 
house.  He  had  not  consistently  acted  with  his  party,  and 
in  1 841  had  introduced  the  measure  providing  for  the  pay- 
ment of  the  interest  on  the  state  debt  by  means  of  the  re-- 
lief  notes.  The  passage  of  the  Tariff  Act  of  1846  he  viewed 
as  a  violation  of  the  Democratic  pledges  made  during  the 
presidential  campaign  of  1844.  Thereupon,  he  abandoned 
his  old  party  and  was  elected  by  the  Whigs  in  1847  to  the 
senate.  His  accession  to  the  Whig  ranks  was  hailed  with 
delight,  for  he  was  a  man  of  marked  ability  and  of  honest 
convictions.  At  the  close  of  his  first  year  in  the  senate,  it 
was  evident  that  the  speaker  of  that  body,  according  to  the 
terms  of  the  constitution,  would  be  governor  pro  tempore 
upon  the  death  of  Governor  Shunk,  which  was  imminent. 

^  Pennsylvania  Archives,  series  iv,  vol.  vii,  p.  283. 
^Pennsylvania  Telegraph,  July  25,  1848. 

*  Daily  Commercial  Journal,  September  6,  1848. 

*  Public  Ledger,  August  31,  September  i,  1848. 


397]  A  POLITICAL  INTERLUDE  151 

The  Whigs,  who  controlled  the  senate,  secured  the  resigna- 
tion of  the  speaker,  whose  term  would  expire  with  this  ses- 
sion. They  then  honored  Johnston  by  electing  him  speaker, 
thereby  assuring  themselves  of  the  support  of  many  pro- 
tectionist Democrats. 

The  nomination  of  Cass  by  the  Democrats  led  to  the  dis- 
affection of  Van  Buren,  who  with  Charles  Francis  Adams 
was  nominated  as  the  standard  bearer  at  a  convention  of 
Free  Soil  men  at  Buffalo  on  /Vugust  9.^  The  movement  in 
Pennsylvania  was  led  by  David  Wilmot.  On  June  29  he 
wrote  a  letter  in  which  he  said,  "  I  shall  support  Van  Buren 
with  the  whole  strength  of  my  patriotism,  and  do  all  in  my 
power  to  get  up  an  electoral  ticket  for  him  in  Pennsyl- 
vania." '  The  Buft'alo  nominations  were  endorsed  at 
county  mass  meetings  in  various  parts  of  the  state. ^  These 
mass  meetings  chose  delegates  to  a  state  convention,  which 
had  been  called  for  Reading  by  the  Pennsylvania  delegates 
to  the  Buffalo  convention.*  The  state  convention  upon  as- 
sembling on  September  13  formed  an  electoral  ticket,  but, 
despite  the  desires  of  the  delegates  from  western  Pennsyl- 
vania, refused  to  form  a  state  ticket.^  It  was  hoped  that 
this  movement  would  attract  the  free-soil  Whigs,  who,  how- 
ever, being  in  control  of  their  party,  asserted  that  the 
Whig  party  "  has  been  and  is  the  bulwark  of  freedom."  ^ 

One  characteristic  of  this  election  was  the  writing  of 
numerous  letters  by  Taylor.  As  no  platform  had  been 
adopted  by  the  national  convention,  theAMiig  journals  began 

^Public  Ledger,  August  10,  11,  12,  1848. 

'  Ibid.,  July  19,  1848. 

^Ibid.,  August  28,  September  i,  7,  1848. 

*  Ibid.,  August  16,  1848. 

*  Ibid.,  September  14,  15.  1848. 

*  Daily  Commercial  Journal.  September  2,  1848. 


1-2  THE  WHIG  PARTY  IN  PENNSYLVANIA  [398 

publishing  as  the  party's  poHcy  the  letter  of  Taylor  to  J. 
S.  Allison,  dated  April  22,  1848,  and  his  letter  of  accep- 
tance, dated  July  15,  1848,  to  J.  M.  Morehead/  Taylor,  in 
the  mean  time,  naively  continued  to  insist  that  he  was  not 
a  party  candidate."  He  even  accepted  from  the  "  Demo- 
cratic citizens  of  Charleston,"  South  Carolina,  a  nomina- 
tion for  the  presidency  on  the  same  ticket  with  \V.  O.  Butler, 
the  regularly  nominated  Democratic  candidate  for  the  vice- 
presidency.''  These  numerous  letters  oi  Taylor  were  caus- 
ing so  much  trouble  that  he  was  forced  finally  to  yield  to 
the  insistence  of  his  political  advisers  that  he  write  no  more 
letters  for  publication.* 

A  new  method  was  introduced  into  the  mechanics  of 
campaigning  in  Pennsylvania  when  Johnston  toured  the 
state.  The  Public  Ledger,  an  independent  journal,  ap- 
proved of  this  plan,  as  it  gave  the  voters  the  opportunity  of 
seeing  and  of  hearing  the  candidate.  Because  of  the  large 
number  of  newspapers  in  the  East,  this  method  had  not  been 
considered  as  essential  as  it  had  been  in  the  South  and  in 
the  West.^  In  his  tour  Johnston  stated  that  the  issues  in- 
volved were  the  tariff  and  the  extension  of  human  slavery. 
He  contended  that  in  contrasting  the  effects  of  the  tariff 
of  1842  and  the  tariff  of  1846  it  would  be  found  that  "the 
former  had  covered  the  country  with  blessings,  while  the 
latter  in  giving  (according  to  the  Baltimore  Convention) 
*  a  renewed  impulse  to  the  cause  of  Free  Trade,'  had  brought 
or  was  bringing  ruin,  stagnation,  and  business  revulsion." 

^  Daily  Commercial  lournal,  August  11,  1848,  et  seq. 
"  Letters  in  the  Public  Ledger,  August  15,  22,  1848. 
s  Ibid.,  August  28,  1848. 

*  Taylor    to    J.    J.    Crittenden,    September    22,    1848;    Miscellaneous 
Manuscript  Collection  of  the  New  York  Historical  Society. 

*  September  7,  1848. 


299]  ^  POLITICAL  INTERLUDE  1 53 

In  re_8:ard  to  slavery,  he  declared  that  the  poHcy  of  the  state 
had  been  always  to  oppose  its  extension/ 

On  the  question  of  the  tariff  the  Whigs  in  the  state  were 
everywhere  united,  but  they  did  not  all  join  in  the  support 
of  the  Wilmot  Proviso.  The  Pennsylvania  Inquirer^  for 
example,  limited  itself  during  the  entire  campaign  to  a  dis- 
cussion of  the  military  renown  of  General  Taylor  and  to  the 
need  of  adequate  protection  to  home  industry.  It  speci- 
fically stated  the  issue  to  be  "  Taylor  and  the  Tariff  of  '42." 
It  did  not  discuss  the  Wilmot  Proviso."  That  the  issue  of 
the  tariff  was  not  without  force  was  shown  by  an  address 
of  tariff  Democrats  in  Clarion  county.  They  rejected  the 
Baltimore  platform  and  the  Democratic  candidates,  declaring 
that  "  what  was  democratic  doctrine  in  '44  should  be  the 
same  in  '48."  ^  As  the  campaign  progressed,  it  became 
evident  that  Pennsylvania  was  "  the  real  battle  ground  "  and 
that  this  was  due  to  the  tariff.* 

The  free-soil  Whigs,  however,  had  control  of  the  state 
party  and  pushed  the  issue  of  the  Wilmot  Proviso  as  well 
as  the  issue  of  the  tariff.  The  fate  of  this  measure,  it  wasi 
pointed  out,  rested  not  only  on  the  Congressmen  but  also 
on  the  President.  Cass  was  pledged  to  veto  the  measure 
should  it  be  presented  to  him.  Since  Van  Buren  could  not 
be  elected,  those,  who  were  interested  in  the  proviso,  were 
urged  to  vote  for  Taylor."'  Wide  publicity  was  given  to 
a  Democratic  pamphlet,  distributed  in  the  Si')Uth.  which  the 

^Public  Ledger,  September  2,  1848. 

'October  10,  19,  November  3,  1848. 

^Pennsylvania  Inquirer,  September  27,  1848. 

*  The  Writings  and  Speeches  of  Daniel  Webster,  vol.  xvi,  p.  500. 

'^  North  American,  August  2,  16,  September  5;  Daily  Commercial 
Journal  May  30,  June  21,  July  7,  18.^8.  Cass'  letter  of  Fel>niary  19, 
1847,  giving  his  views  on  the  Wilmut  Proviso  i;i  the  Public  Ledger, 
September   I,    1848. 


1^4  ^^^^  WHIG  PARTY  IN  PENNSYLVANIA  [400 

Whigs  republished  for  distribution  in  Pennsylvania.  The 
pamphlet  was  entitled,  "  A  Statement  proving  Millard  Fill- 
more, the  Candidate  of  the  Whig  Party  for  the  Office  of 
Vice  President,  to  be  an  Abolitionist,  by  a  Review  of  his 
Course  in  the  25th,  26th,  and  27th  Congress.  Also,  show- 
ing General  Taylor  to  be  in  favor  of  extending  the  Ordin- 
ance of  1787  over  the  Continent,  beyond  the  Rio  Grande  j 
in  other  words  to  be  in  favor  of  the  Wilmot  Proviso."  ^ 

The  strong  Whig  counties  of  Allegheny  and  Lancaster 
were  completely  under  the  control  of  the  free-soil  element. 
In  Allegheny  county,  Moses  Hampton  secured  the  Whig* 
renomination  to  Congress  only  by  pledging  himself  de- 
finitely to  support  the  Wilmot  Provisos."  In  Lancaster 
county  Thaddetis  Stevens  through  the  adroit  manipulation 
of  the  Native  American  delegates  to  the  "  Rough  and 
Ready  County  Convention  "  secured  his  nomination  as  the 
congressional  candidate.^  This  nomination  was  tantamount 
to  an  election.  His  anti-slavery  views  were  well  known 
and  pronounced.  The  abolition  leaders  in  the  county,  how- 
ever, addressed  a  letter  to  both  Stevens  and  Emanuel 
Schaeffer,  the  Democratic  candidate,  and  asked  the  follow- 
ing questions : 

1.  If  elected  to  a  seat  in  the  Congress  of  the  United  States 
will  you  vote  for  and  support  at  all  times  the  principles  of  the 
Jeffersonian  Ordinance  of  1787  in  their  application  to  the  whole 
of  our  newly  acquired  territories,  so  far  as  the  same  may  be 
necessary  to  exclude  slavery  and  involuntary  servitude  from 
them  forever  ? 

2.  If  elected  will  you  support  a  bill  for  the  extinction  of  this 

'Reprinted  entire  in  the  Daily  Commercial  Journal,  September  12,  1848. 

^  Ibid.,  May  10,  18,  19;  June  9,  26,  July  28,  1848. 

*  Public  Ledger,  August  17,  21,  24;  American  Press  and  Republican, 
August  26;  Lancaster  Intelligencer,  August  29,  1848. 


401  ]  A  POLITICAL  INTERLUDE  I  55 

institution  (Slavery)  wherever  Congress  possesses  Constitu- 
tional jurisdiction  over  it? 

The  Democratic  candidate  replied  that  the  people  of  each, 
state  and  territory  had  the  right  of  controlling  and  of 
checking  the  advance  of  this  institution.  Stevens  answered 
both  questions  in  the  affirmative  and  requested  the  com- 
mittee to  consider  his  answers  ''  as  expressing  merely  opin- 
ions and  feelings  long  enteiiained,  and  not  as  pledges,  given 

for  the  occasion I  will  further  add,  what,  perhaps, 

your  letter  does  not  require ;  that  I  will  vote  for  no  man  for 
any  office,  who  I  believe  would  interpose  any  official  ob- 
stacles to  the  accomplishment  of  these  objects."  '^ 

In  all  of  the  congressional  districts  the  Whigs  nominated 
candidates,  and  did  not  endorse  any  tariff  Democrats,  as 
they  had  done  in  1844.  In  two  of  the  Philadelphia  districts, 
however,  they  endorsed  two  of  the  nominees  of  the  Native 
Americans  in  return  for  their  acceptance  of  the  balance  of 
the  W'hig  ticket."  The  Democrats  used  the  Ten  Hour  Law 
in  an  appeal  to  the  factory  workers.  This  law  of  ^March 
28,  1848,  declared  that  a  legal  day's  work  in  the  textile  mills 
in  the  state  consisted  of  ten  hours  of  labor.  Trouble  had 
developed  in  some  mills  over  the  enforcement  of  the  law. 
Although  there  was  no  large  gain  as  a  result  of  this  appeal, 
yeit,  inasmuch  as  the  election  was  close,  the  defeat  of 
Middleswarth,  Whig  candidate  for  canal  commissioner,  was 
partly  due  to  his  opposition  in  the  senate  to  this  bill.^ 

*  Correspondence  in  the  Lancaster  Intelligencer,  September  26,  1848. 

*  Public  Ledger,  September  28,  1848.  The  Whigs  endorsed  Congress- 
man L.  C.  Levin  for  reelection  and  John  S.  Littell,  a  former  Whig. 
A  few  Whigs,  who  were  opposed  to  Levin,  nominated  their  own  can- 
didate. 

^  Parke,  Historical  Gleanings,  p.  78;  Public  Ledger,  July  7.  15.  25, 
September  19,  1848.  McClure,  Old  Time  Notes,  vol.  i.  p.  I77.  attributes 
iMiddlcswarth's  defeat  to  his  opposition  to  the  law.  For  the  act,  see 
Session  Laivs,  1848,  p.  278. 


1^6  THE  WHIG  PARTY  IN  PENNSYLVANIA  [402 

It  is  difficult,  on  the  basis  of  the  returns,  to  state  definitely 
who  carried  the  October  elections.  The  Whigs  secured  the 
greater  portion  of  the  offices,  but  the  Democratic  majority 
seems  to  have  been  about  3,000.  Of  the  twenty-four  Con- 
gressmen, fourteen  Whigs,  one  Native  American-Whig, 
eight  Democrats,  and  one  Free  Soil  Democrat,  David  Wil- 
mot,  were  elected.^  In  the  eleventh  district,  a  mining! 
region,  the  Democrats  had  nominated  two  candidates,  with 
the  result  that  the  Whig  ha.d  been  elected  by  a  very  small 
plurality.'  W^ilmot  had  been  elected  by  a  huge  majority.^ 
On  joint  ballot  the  Whigs  would  contrcl  the  legislature, 
assuring  the  election  of  a  Whig  Senator.  In  the  senate  the 
Whigs  had  twenty-one  of  the  thirty-three  members;  the 
house  contained  fifty  Democrats,  forty-five  Whigs,  and  five 
Native  Americans,  who  had  been  elected  in  Philadelphia 
county  with  the  assistance  of  the  Whigs.'' 

The  early  returns  for  govenior  and  canal  commissioner 
indicated  that  the  Whigs  had  elected  both  of  them.  It  soon 
was  evident,  however,  that  Middleswarth  had  been  defeated. 
For  a  period  of  ten  days,  it  was  doubtful  whether  Johnston 
or  Longstreth  had  been  elected  governor,  but  then  it  became 
clear  that  Johnston  had  been  chosen  by  a  majority  of  over 
two  hundred  votes. ^     The  Democratic  candidate  for  canal 

^Public  Ledger,  October  20,  1&48. 

2  H.  B.  Wright,  in  a  letter  of  October  16,  1848,  to  Buchanan,  attri- 
buted his  defeat  in  this  district  to  the  "  amalgamation  of  AboHtion- 
ists — free-soil  men — the  Beaumont  and  Collings  men  on  Butler  the 
federal  candidate."  Buchanan  Mss.  The  split  in  the  party  was  due 
to  the  "  rotten "  delegate  system  to  the  county  convention.  "  Free 
Trade  has  got  its  quietus  —  and  hereafter  men  must  learn  wisdom," 
said  the  leading  county  paper,  the  Lxizerne  Democrat,  October  11, 
1848. 

3  Public  Ledger,  October  22,  1848. 
*Ibid.,  October  21,  1848. 

*  SrnuU's  Legislative  Hand-Book,  1919,  p.  720;  the  official  returns 
were  William  F.  Johnston  (Whig)  168,522;  Morris  Longstreth  (Dem.) 
168,225;  scattering  72. 


403]  ^  POLITICAL  INTERLUDE  I 


:>/ 


commissioner  secured  a  majority  of  over  three  thousand. 
The  vote  for  commissioner  as  compared  with  that  for  gov- 
ernor showed  a  decline  in  the  Whig  vote  of  4,400  and  in  the 
Democratic  vote  of  1,100.  The  larger  falling  off  in  the 
Whig  total  than  in  the  Democratic  represented  the  refusal 
of  the  factory  workers  and  of  the  free-soil  Democrats  to 
support  Middleswarth.  The  former  had  been  antagonized 
by  his  opposition  to  the  Ten  Hour  Bill.  In  Allegheny 
county  alone,  he  lost  over  600  of  the  factory  workers'  votes. 
In  Wilmot's  district,  he  lost  over  425  of  the  free-soil  votes 
which  had  been  cast  for  Johnston.  This  defection  is  not 
so  noticeable  in  the  southeastern  part  of  the  state. ^  Painter, 
the  successful  candidate,  received  the  votes  of  the  Taylor 
Democrats,  since  he  had  been  one  of  those  who  had  worked 
for  Taylor,  being  a  signer  of  the  resolutions  of  June  26, 

1847-^  ; 

The  election  of  Johnston  by  so  small  a  majority  indicated 
that  there  had  not  been  a  political  upheaval  in  the  state. 
Johnston  had  been  a  Democrat,  but  had  abandoned  that 
party  after  its  tariff  pledges  of  1844  had  been  violated. 
Support  came  to  him  from  similarly  minded  Democrats. 
The  manner  in  which  the  death  chamber  of  Governor  Shunk 
had  been  entered  by  the  politicians  disgusted  a  number  of 
the  voters.  In  his  tour  of  the  state  Johnston  liad  made 
many  friends.  He  argued  the  tariff  question  closely  and  con- 
sequently secured  the  normal  Democratic  counties  of  Schuyl- 
kill, an  iron-  and  coal-producing  area,  and  of  Wash- 
ington, a  wool-growing  region.  The  tact  that  the  Native 
Americans  did  not  liave  an  independent  state  ticket  assured 
him  of  their  support.  The  Free  Soil  Democrats  did  not 
have  a  state  ticket  and  his  views  on  the  Wilmot  Proviso 

'  Senate  Journal,  1849,  vol.  ii,  p.  347. 

*  Pennsylvania  Telegraph,  July  n,  October  31,  1&48. 


158  THE  WHIG  PARTY  IN  PENNSYLVANIA  [404 

were  acceptable  to  them.  In  Wilmot's  district,  although 
he  received  a  minority  of  the  votes  cast,  yet  he  secured 
1,250  more  votes  tlian  did  the  Whig  candidate  for  Congress. 
Since  the  majority  of  Johnston  was  so  small,  any  and  all  of 
these  elements  were  decisive  factors. 

The  election  of  Johnston,  their  first  governor,  highly 
elated  the  ^Vhigs,  for  it  also  presaged  the  election  of  Taylor 
in  November.^  For  the  first  time,  the  election  for  President 
was  to  occur  on  the  same  day  in  all  parts  of  the  Union.  It 
had  become  quite  clear  that  New  York  and  Pennsylvania 
would  detenuine  the  election.  The  Whigs  were  certain 
that  they  would  carry  the  former  because  of  the  wide  breach 
in  the  Democracy  of  the  state.  Their  efforts  were  conse- 
quently concentrated  on  Pennsylvania,  where  both  partiesl 
more  systematically  used  the  customary  campaign  methods." 
The  result  of  the  efforts  to  obtain  a  full  vote  was  the 
polling  oi  the  largest  vote  hitherto  cast.  Taylor  secured 
a  plurality  of  13,500  over  Cass,  and  a  majority  over  Cass 
and  Van  Buren  of  2,250  in  a  total  vote  of  over  368,000.^ 

The  reason  for  their  defeat,  said  the  chairman  of  the 
Democratic  state  central  committee,  was  due  to  "  Taylor- 
ism,  and  '  nothing  else.'  This  is  Jacksonism  and  Harrison- 
ism  over  again."  *  The  recession  from  high  prices  for 
agricultural  products,  which  had  prevailed  during  the  past 
two  years  because  of  the  failure  of  crops  in  Europe  and. 

'  Nathaii  Sargent,  October  12,  1848,  to  J.  R.  Chandler,  "  Only  think  of 
a  WHIG  governor  of  Pa. !  Hurrah !  Hurrah ! !  Hurrah ! ! !  "  Society 
Collection,  Hist.  iSoc.  of  Penna. 

*  E.  W.  Hutter,  chairman  of  the  Democratic  state  central  committee, 
on  October  31,  1848,  wrote  Buchanan  that  the  Whigs  had  an  "  oceam 
of  money."  Their  committees  of  visitation  were  actively  engaged 
in  house  to  house  canvasses;   Buchanan  Mss. 

*  S mull's  Legislative  Hand-Book,  1919,  p.  715,  gives  the  official  returns, 
as  Taylor  185,513;  Cass  171,976;  Van  Buren  11,263. 

^  E.  W.  Hutter,  November  8,  1848,  to  Buchanan;  Buchanan  Mss. 


QO 

T 
OO 


405]  ^  POLITICAL  INTERLUDE  1 39 

because  of  the  repeal  of  the  British  Corn  Laws,  helped  the 
Whigs  in  their  argument  on  the  tariff.  One  of  the  Demo- 
cratic leaders  in  the  mining  region  attributed  the  result  of 
the  election  "  to  gimpoAvder  and  the  Tariff !  which  of  these 
had  the  greatest  influence — it  will  be  hard  to  ascertain." 
According  to  him,  the  Democrats  in  the  coal  and  iron  dis- 
tricts could  not  be  controlled.  "  They  said  it  was  bread 
and  they  would  not  stand  to  principle."  ^ 

1  H.  B.  Wright,  November  13,  1848,  to  Buchanan ;  also  J.  W.  Forney 
to  Buchanan,  November  11,  1848;  Buchanan  Mss. 


CHAPTER  V 
The  Slavery  Question  in  State  Politics 

1849-1851. 

Upon  the  assembling  of  the  state  legislature  in  1849,  ^^^^ 
Whigs  without  any  trouble  secured  control  of  the  senate. 
In  the  house  the  Democrats  had  exactly  one  half  of  the  one 
hundred  members,  the  Whigs  forty-five  and  the  Native 
Americans  five.  On  the  first  ballot  for  speaker  none  of  the 
Native  Americans  voted  for  the  Whig  candidate,  but  on 
the  second  ballot  two  did  so.  Twenty-one  ballots  were  cast 
without  an  election.  On  January  5  one  of  the  Native 
Americans  announced  that  if  three  votes  would  break  the 
deadlock,  he  with  two  other  Native  Americans  would  change 
their  vote  in  order  to  prevent  a  further  waste  of  time.  On 
the  next  ballot  William  F.  Packer,  a  Democrat,  was  elected 
with  fifty-two  votes. ^  By  casting  their  votes  as  a  unit,  the 
Democrats  elected  the  other  officers  of  the  house. 

On  joint  ballot,  however,  the  Whigs  and  Native  Ameri- 
cans had  a  majority,  and  were  able  on  the  third  ballot  to 
elect  James  Cooper  to  the  United  States  Senate.  Cooper  had 
been  appointed  attorney-general  by  the  governor,  but  an 
estrangement  had  been  developing.  It  was  increased  by 
the  refusal  of  the  governor  to  favor  any  of  the  candidatesi 
for  Senator.-     The  Whigs  because  of  the   failure  of  the 

1  Public  Ledger,  January  2,  3,  4,  5,  6,  1849. 

"^  House  Journal,  1849,  vol.  ii.  p.  74;  Public  Ledger,  January  11,  1849; 
McClure,  Old  Time  Notes,  vol.  i,  p.  180. 

i6o  [406 


^oy]    THE  SLAVERY  QUESTION  IN  STATE  POLITICS      i6i 

Native  Americans  to  cooperate  lost  a  number  of  the  state 
offices.  For  state  treasurer  they  nominated  a  member  of 
the  legislature  and  secured  his  election  by  his  own  vote,  an 
action  which  they  endorsed  at  a  subsequent  caucus  of  their 
party/ 

It  was  assumed  that  Pennsylvania  would  be  represented 
in  the  cabinet  of  President  Taylor,  inasmuch  as  it  had  been 
influential  in  securing  his  nomination  and  election.  The 
same  problem  confronted  Taylor  that  had  worried  Harrison. 
The  two  branches  of  his  supporters  in  the  state  made  a 
choice  difficult.^  The  Whig  Congressmen  from  Pennsyl- 
vania, willing  to  aid  Taylor  with  unsought  advice,  at  a 
caucus  recommended  Andrew  Stew^art  for  the  Treasurv  De- 
partment.^  Stewart  came  from  western  Pennsylvania  and 
was  known  to  be  in  favor  of  sweeping  changes  in  the  tariff 
and  in  the  sub-treasury  system.  His  views  on  these  ques- 
tions made  him  acceptable  to  the  northern  but  unacceptable 
to  the  southern  supporters  of  Taylor.  As  a  result.  Stewart 
was  rejected  and  William  'M.  ^Meredith,  a  Philadelphia 
la^v}'er,  was  given  the  portfolio. 

The  distribution  of  the  federal  patronage  caused  trouble, 
inasmuch  as  both  Governor  Johnston  and  Senator  Cooper 
were  striving  to  control  the  Whig  party  in  the  state.  The 
governor  requested  the  national  leaders  to  allow  no  nomi- 
nations in  Pennsylvania  to  be  made  which  were  hostile  to 
him,  as  this  would  disrupt  the  party.'*     In  compliance  with 

^  House  Journal  1849,  vol.  ii,  p.  165;  Public  Ledger,  January  16.  17, 
I&49. 

-  Charles  B.  Penrose,  January  2,  1849,  and  John  M.  Kennedy,  .\o- 
veinber  26,  1848,  to  J.  J.  Crittenden;  Crittenden  Papers,  Lib.  of  Cong. 
\Vm.  D.  Lewis,  December  18,  1848,  and  E.  C.  Reigart,  February  19, 
1849,  to  John  M.  Clayton;  Gayton  Papers,  Lib.  of  Cong. 

*  Public  Ledger,  January  22,  24,  25,  26,  1849. 

MVm.  F.  Johnston,  January  17,  1849,  to  J.  J.  Crittenden ;  Crittenden 
Papers,  Lib.  of  Cong. 


1 62  THE  WHIG  PARTY  IN  PENNSYLVANIA  [408 

his  request,  William  D.  Lewis  was  appointed  collector  of 
the  port  of  Philadelphia,  one  of  the  most  remunerative  of- 
fices within  the  state.  The  collector  had  great  power  in 
appointing  subordinates.  The  appointment  of  Lewis  was 
declared  to  be  unfair  to  the  "  Working  Whigs."  ^  It  in- 
dicated clearly  that  the  national  administration  was  favor- 
ing Johnston  rather  than  Cooper.  The  former  was  sup- 
ported by  the  free-soil  element  in  the  party  and,  conse- 
quently, those  who  opposed  this  policy  turned  tO'  Cooper^ 
Cooper  was  dissatisfied  with  the  neglect  of  his  wing  of 
the  Whig  party  and  with  the  refusal  of  Lewis  to  appoint 
his  followers  to  subordinate  positions  in  the  customs  house. 
Despite  the  strenuous  opposition  of  Cooper,  confii-matiort 
of  the  appointment  of  Lewis  was  secured,  but  not  until 
September  18,  1850.^ 

The  governor  and  the  senate  of  the  legislature  were 
Whig,  but  the  house  was  under  the  control  of  the  Demo- 
crats. It  was,  therefore,  impossible  for  the  Whigs  to  adopt 
any  distinctively  Whig  measures.  Acting  upon  the  sug- 
gestion of  the  governor,  a  sinking  fund  for  the  state  debt 
was  established,  but  as  a  non-partisan  measure.^  There 
was  consequently  nothing  in  the  acts  of  the  administrationt 
which  conld  be  used  as  an  issue. 

The  Democrats  were  the  first  tO'  hold  their  state  conven- 
tion, which  assembled  on  July  4  at  Pittsburgh  and  placed 
John  A.  Gamble  in  nomination  for  the  canal  commissioner- 
ship.*     The  Whigs  met  at  Harrishurg  on  August  16  and 

•  Daily  News,  June  23,  July  3,  1849. 

'Senate  Executive  Journal,  vol.  viii,  p.  233.     The  vote  on  confirma- 
tion v^-as  36  to  7.     Cooper  was  the  only  Whig  who  voted  against  it. 

'Message  of  January  6,  1849;  Pennsylvania  Archives,  series  iv,  voL 
vii,  p.  322. 

*  Daily  Commercial  Journal,  July  6,  7,  1849. 


409]    ^^^  SLAVERY  QUESTION  IN  STATE  POLITICS      163 

nominated  Henry  M.  Fuller.'  The  Democrats  at  their  con- 
vention rejected  the  national  plank  of  1848  on  the  slavery 
question  and  now  took  a  position  virtually  the  same  as  that 
of  the  Whigs.  The  Native  Americans  did  not  hold  a  state 
convention,  but  in  some  of  the  counties  they  endorsed 
Kimber  Cleaver.-  Unless  the  A\'higs  could  secure  the  sup- 
port of  the  Native  Americans,  they  could  not  elect  the  canal 
commissioner  nor  the  county  officials  in  Philadelphia.  The 
Native  Americans  were  dissatisfied  with  the  distribution 
of  the  patronage,  as  many  of  them  felt  that  only  the  friends 
of  Congressman  Levin  were  favored.^  Furthermore,  as  a 
body  they  felt  that  they  had  been  slighted.  Their  endorse- 
ment of  Taylor  had  come  first  in  point  of  time,  and  they 
felt  that  in  the  distribution  of  the  federal  jxitronage  they* 
in  turn  should  have  come  first. 

The  Whigs  were  ready  to  continue  the  alliance  with  the 
Native  Americans  in  Philadelphia  county  but  they  were 
opposed  to  abandoning  their  own  organization  and  forming 
the  ''  Taylor  Republican  Association."  *  The  *'  Rough  and 
Ready  City  and  County  Convention,"  meeting  in  the  latter 
part  of  August  and  in  the  beginning  of  September,  made 
nominations  for  the  county  offices.^  In  this  joint  organiza- 
tion of  the  Whigs  and  Native  Americans,  the  anti-Levin 
Native  Americans  refused  to  participate  and  named  their 
own  candidates.®  About  half  of  these  candidates  were 
endorsed  by  the  joint  organization.     When  the  elections 

^Pennsylvania  Inquirer,  August  18,  1849. 
'Public  Ledger,  September  26,  1849. 

»A.  D.  Chaloner,  .\ugust  18,  1849,  to  T.  ^f.  Clayton;  Clayton  Papers, 
Lib.  of  Cong. 

*  Daily  News,  July  6,  10,  11,  24,  1849. 

^  Prnnsyhania  Inquirer,  August  24,  September  6,  11.  12,  15.  .849. 

•  Public  Ledger,  September  5,  1849. 


1 54  THE  WHIG  PARTY  IN  PENNSYLVANIA  [410 

were  held,  those  candidates  who  had  been  endorsed  by 
both  bodies  were  elected.  The  candidate  of  the  exclusive 
Native  Americans  for  county  auditor  showed  unusual 
strength  and  was  elected.  The  returns  clearly  indicated 
that  the  so-called  "  Rough  and  Ready  "  party  had  more  sup- 
porters than  the  exclusive  Native  American,  which  polled  an 
average  of  only  2,000  votes  but  which  had  nevertheless  de- 
cided the  election.  This  led  the  Whigs  to  determine 
that  in  the  future  they  would  have  an  exclusively  Whig 
ticket.^  In  Philadelphia  city,  ordinarily  a  Whig  strong- 
hold, a  combination  of  dissatisfied  Whigs,  Democrats,  and 
Native  Americans  elected  Joel  Jones  mayor  on  the  "  Inde- 
pendent People's  Ticket."  " 

Throughout  the  state  the  election  was  remarkable  for  the 
apathy  displayed  and  for  the  lack  of  partisan  zeal.^  When 
the  President  made  a  tour  of  the  state,  an  endeavor  was 
made  to  convert  it  into  a  Whig  procession  and  to  impressi 
upon  him  the  need  of  protection  to  the  industries  of  the 
state.  The  President,  however,  refused  to  consider  hisi 
tour  as  anything  but  non-partisan  in  nature.*  During  the 
campaign  the  Whigs  reiterated  the  claim  that  they  were  the 
free-soil  party  but  asserted  that  need  for  the  \Vilmot  Pro- 
viso was  "  now  a  thing  of  the  past :  it  has  ceased  to  be  neces- 
sary, and  dies  with  the  exigency  that  created  it."  ^  They 
generally  kept  this  issue  in  the  background  and  confined  their 

'  Daily  News,  October  13,  1849.  Compare  the  following  returns  for 
the  influence  of  the  Native  American  vote :  for  treasurer — Wagner 
(iRough  and  Ready;  Native)  21,265;  Thomas  (Dem.)  19,514;  for 
register — Vinyard  (Rough  and  Ready)  18,446;  Bunton  (Dem.)  19.735; 
Bonsall  (Nat.  Am.)  2,828. 

'Public  Ledger,  September  4,  11,  25,  Octolier  i,  6,  12,  1849. 

^Ibid.,  October  8,  1849. 

*  Ibid.,  August  11-27,  1849. 

'^  Daily  News,  May  24;  Miners'  Journal,  April  28,  1849. 


41 1 ]    THE  SLAVERY  QUESTION  IN  STATE  POLITICS      165 

discussions  to  the  tariff.  The  reference  by  the  Washington 
Union  to  the  "  periodical  '  pig  iron  '  clamor  raised  by  the 
iron  masters  of  Pennsylvania  "  was  resented/  The  failure 
of  the  tariff  of  1846  to  give  protection  to  industry  when 
prices  were  low  was  attributed  to. its  ad  valorem  schedule 
and  was  declared  to  be  reason  for  changing  to  specific  rates.^ 
That  the  method  of  levying  the  duties  was  causing  un- 
employment was  shown  by  the  fact  that  large  orders  for 
railroad  iron  were  being  placed  with  British  firms.^  Be- 
cause of  the  low  prices  which  were  prevailing,  it  was  re- 
ported, the  Hudson  River  Railroad  had  found  it  profitable 
to  pay  Peter  Cooper  of  Trenton,  New  Jersey,  $54,000  for 
the  cancellation  of  a  contract  made  several  years  pre- 
viously.^ Henry  AI.  Fuller,  Whig  candidate  for  canal  com- 
missioner, claimed  on  good  authority  that  in  the  period  1842 
to  1846  seventy-five  iron  furnaces  had  been  erected  west 
of  the  mountains  in  Pennsylvania,  but  from  1846  to  1849 
only  three  had  been  erected.'  In  an  address  to  the  Whig 
young  men  of  Pennsylvania,  it  was  asserted  that  less  pro- 
tection was  required  now  because  of  the  protection  which 
had  been  previously  given,  and  that  if  the  policy  of  pro- 
tection were  continued,  less  and  less  would  be  required  until 
the  country  ultimately  could  without  danger  be  placed  on 
a  tariff  revenue  basis.®  The  fate  of  the  tariff  was  said  to 
depend  on  Pennsylvania/ 

The  Democrats  tried,  as  much  as  possible,  to  avoid  the 

'  Miners'  Journal,  September  .29,  1849. 
2  Daily  News,  June  28,  1849. 

*  Daily  Commercial  Journal,  April  13,  1849. 

*  Daily  News,  August  28,  1849. 

*  Pennsylvania  Inquirer,  September  4,  1849. 
^  Ibid.,  August  31,  1849. 

''  Miners'  Journal,  September  22,  1849. 


j56  the  whig  party  in  Pennsylvania        [412 

tariff  question/  They  appealed  to  the  workingman  by  as- 
serting that  the  Ten  Hour  Law  of  March  28,  1848,  which 
declared  ten  hours  of  labor  constituted  a  legal  day's  work 
in  the  textile  mills  of  the  state,  was  an  exclusively  Demo- 
cratic measure.  They  raised  this  issue  particularly  in  Alle- 
gheny county  where  the  year  before  there  had  been  rioting 
over  the  enforcement  of  the  law.  In  this  county  the  Whig 
press  attacked  the  law  because  of  its  inequitable  operation 
even  within  the  state,  and  because  of  its  consequent  mani- 
fest unfairness  to  the  local  capitalist.-  The  Whig  press  was 
compelled  by  the  Democrats  to  take  strong  ground  against 
the  law,  and  asserted  that  a  man  coiild  not  possibly  do  as 
much  work  in  ten  as  he  could  in  twelve  hours.  The  agri- 
culturists were  appealed  to  by  the  statement  that  the  law 
in  order  to  be  equitable  would  have  to  apply  to  them  too.^ 
In  the  election  the  county  was  retained  by  the  Whigs,  but 
the  Democrats  succeeded  in  electing  one  of  the  four  as- 
semblymen.* 

The  state  election  resulted  in  the  choice  of  a  Democratic 
canal  commissioner.^  The  legislature  came  fully  under  the 
control  of  the  Democrats,  who  now  had  seventeen  of  the 
thirty-three  senators,  and  fifty-nine  of  the  one  hundred  re- 
presentatives.*  This  control  was  of  importance  as  it  was 
the  duty  of  this  legislature  to  reapportion  the  state.  The 
free-soil  Whigs  claimed  that  they  had  been  defeated  "  not 

>  Pittsburgh  Gazette,  September  6,   1849,  for  the  proceedings  of  the 
Allegheny  county  Democratic  convention. 

*  Daily  Commercial  Journal,  January- February,  1849. 

*  Pittsburgh  Gazette,  July  24,  25,  1849.     Attacks  on  the  law  were  coii'- 
tinued  after  the  election;  ibid.,  November  22,   1849;  February  27,  1850, 

*  Daily  Commercial  Jottrnal,  October  il,  16,  1849. 

»  Official  returns  in  Public  Ledger,  October  25,  1849. 
^Pennsylvania  Inquirer,  October  19,  1849. 


413]    THE  SLAVERY  QUESTION  IN  STATE  POLITICS      167 

through  weakness,  but  through  a  reprehensible  indiffer- 
ence." ^  The  supporters  of  Senator  Cooper,  on  the  other 
hand,  asserted  that  the  overthrow  was  due  to  appointing" 
"  Parlor  Politicians  "  and  not  "  Working  Whigs  "  to  office."^ 
The  election  illustrated,  just  as  did  the  election  of  1847, 
the  fact  that  the  Democrats  due  to  their  superior  organiza- 
tion could  wrest  the  control  of  the  state  away  from  the 
Whigs  in  the  year  following  a  disastrous  defeat.  Although 
the  Democrats  had  a  majority  in  both  houses  of  the  legisla- 
ture, yet  they  were  not  to  control  the  organization  of  the 
senate.  On  the  seventh  ballot  for  speaker  of  the  senate, 
the  WTiigs  voted  for  Valentine  Best,  a  Democrat  who  had 
not  attended  his  party  caucus.  On  the  following  ballot  he 
voted  for  himself  and  was  elected.  The  Whigs  received 
their  reward  in  obtaining  the  chief  senate  offices.^ 

It  was  with  an  endeavor  to  influence  the  new  Congress! 
that  an  iron  masters'  convention  was  held  at  Pittsburgh  in 
November,  1849.  The  ad  valorem  duties  of  the  tariff  of 
1846,  with  the  sliding  scale  of  low  rates  for  declared  high 
values,  were  attacked  on  the  ground  that  they  made  fraud 
possible.  The  convention  asked  for  a  "  duty  of  $10  per  ton 
on  Pig  Iron,  and  $20  per  ton  on  common  bar,  and  a  corres- 
ponding increase  on  all  other  iron  and  manufactories  of 
iron,  in  proportion  to  cost  of  make."  The  largest  number 
of  the  delegates  came  from  western  Pennsylvania,  but  there 
were  representatives  present  from  other  states.  The  con- 
vention was  not  distinctively  Whig,  and  yet  Colonel  Mc- 
Candless,  a  leading  Democrat  of  western  Pennsylvania, 
refused  to  address  the  convention,  claiming  that  his  views 

^Fittsburgh  Gazette,  October  17,  1849. 
'  Daily  News,  October  16,  1849. 

'Public  Ledger,  January  2.  3,  5.  1850;  McClure.  Old  Time  Notes,  vol. 
i,  p.  185. 


l68  THE  WHIG  PARTY  IN  PENNSYLVANIA  [414 

on  the  subject  of  protection  were  different  from  those  of 
the  great  majority  of  the  delegates  in  the  convention/ 

The  control  of  the  Thirty-hrst  Congress  was  in  doubt." 
The  struggle  over  the  election  of  the  Speaker  of  the  House 
indicated  that  the  chief  issue  before  Congress  would  be  the 
question  of  the  extension  of  the  slave  area,  as  involved  in 
the  admission  of  California  as  a  state  and  in  the  erection 
of  new  territories.  After  many  unsuccessful  ballots  the 
House  chose  Howell  Cobb.  Many  of  the  Pennsylvania 
Whigs  considered  him  the  least  objectionable  of  the 
southern  Democrats  because  he  had  voted  to  add  the  anti- 
.'ilavery  provisions  of  the  Northwest  Ordinance  of  1787  to 
the  Oregon  Bill.     One  free-soil  Whig  paper  declared, 

Oregon  free,  and  California  once  admitted  as  a  free  State, 
the  Free  Seller  will  have  nothing  left  to  contend  for,  and  the 
Wilmot  Proviso,  having  performed  its  office,  ceases  to  be  an 
issue  before  the  country.  .  .  .  We  lose  nothing  as  friends  of 
freedom  in  the  new  territories  by  the  election  of  Mr.  Cobb 
to  the  Speakership.^ 

In  his  message  of  January  6,  1849,  Governor  Johnston 
urged  the  legislature  to  adopt  resolutions  opposing  thei 
further  extension  of  slavery.  The  senate  by  a  vote  of  30  to 
2  passed  such  resolutions,  on  which,  however,  the  house 
took  no  action.^     In   February,    1850,   the   legislatures   of 

^Public  Ledger,  November  26,  27,  December  20,  22;  Pittsburgh 
Gazette,  November  22,  2^,  24,  1849. 

2  All  the  states  did  not  hold  their  congressional  elections  in  1848. 
Only  138  of  the  231  Congressmen  were  chosen  in  that  year.  The 
Whigs,  therefore,  lost  the  advantage  which  would  have  come  to  them 
from  having  the  elections  in  the  same  year  as  the  successful  presi- 
dential election. 

8  Daily  Commercial  Journal,  December  24,  1849. 

*  Senate  Journal,  1849,  vol.  i,  p.  375 ;  House  Journal,  1849,  vol.  i,  pp. 
SI,  669. 


415]     THE  SLAVERY  QUESTION  IN  STATE  POLITICS      169 

Georgia  and  Virginia  passed  resolutions  asserting  that  the 
northern  states  in  not  aiding  in  the  rendition  of  fugitive 
slaves  were  not  living  up  to  the  compromises  of  the  Consti- 
tution. They  denied  that  Congress  had  the  power  to  in- 
terfere with  slavery  in  the  District  of  Columbia  or  in  the 
new  territories.  In  a  strong  message  to  the  legislature  the 
governor  vigorously  denied  that  Pennsylvania  had  not  been 
living  up  to  the  compromises  of  the  Constitution.  That 
Pennsylvania  had  always  been  opposed  to  the  extension  of 
slavery  was  shown  to  be  true.  Furthermore,  he  claimed 
that  although  the  interests  of  Pennsylvania  had  often  been 
injured  by  slavery,  nevertheless  Pennsylvania  had  remained 
faithful  to  the  compromises.^  This  message  offended  the 
Democrats  so  deeply  that  the  house  refused  to  order  its 
printing  for  distribution.-  In  April  the  house  by  a  strict 
party  vote  decided  to  repeal  the  act  of  March  3.  1847,  which 
refused  the  use  of  the  state  jails  for  the  detention  of  fugi- 
tive slaves.  The  senate,  however,  took  no  action  on  the 
bill.^  This  act  for  the  first  time  was  being  considered  as  a 
party  issue. 

The  message  of  the  President  en  the  admission  of  Cali- 
fornia was  declared  by  the  Whigs  to  meet  with  general  ap- 
proval in  the  North,  but  not  so  his  views  on  the  formation! 
of  the  new  territories.  This  region,  it  was  said,  had  been 
declared  by  Mexico  in  1829  to  be  free  soil,  and  consequently 
slavery  could  be  introduced  only  by  a  positive  act  of  Con- 
gress or  of  the  states  to  be  erected  there.  The  policy  of 
"  non-intervention  "  would  keep  the  area  free,  and  there- 
fore there  was  no  longer  need  to  agitate  for  the  Wilmot 
Proviso.*     This  attitude  was  more  clearly  reflected  in  the 

^  House  Journal,  1850,  vol.  ii,  pp.  419  ct  scq. 

*  Ibid.,  vol.  i,  p.  727. 

'Ibid-,  vol.  i,  pp.  495,  845;  Senate  Journal,  1850,  vol.  i,  916. 

*  Pittsburgh  Gazette,  January  28,  1850. 


lyo  THE  WHIG  PARTY  IN  PENNSYLVANIA  [416 

Pennsylvania  house  of  representatives,  where  efforts  were 
made  to  repeal  the  resolutions  of  1847  "^  favor  of  the 
Wilmot  Proviso/  It  was  stated  that  if  this  policy  should 
be  adopted,  the  South  would  make  concessions  on  the  tariff, 
internal  improvements,  and  land  distribution." 

The  attitude  of  the  orthodox  Democracy  on  the  slavery 
issue  was  reflected  in  a  mass  meeting  in  Philadelphia  on 
February  22,  1850.  The  meeting,  sponsored  by  the  sup-* 
porters  of  James  Buchanan,  deprecated  all  disunion  talk 
and  agitation,  and  abandoned  the  "  no  extension  of  slavery  " 
plank  of  the  state  convention  of  1849.  It  resolved  that 
"  the  people  o^f  the  separate  territories,  when  politically! 
organized,  .  .  .  have  then  exclusively  the  right  to-  prohibit 
or  allow  slavery  in  such  territories."  The  Wilmot  Pro- 
viso was  declared  to  be 

the  same  ancient,  aristocratic,  pernicious  and  pestilent  political 
heresy,  (ever  repudiated  and  denounced  by  the  Democratic 
party  of  the  Union),  which  seeks  by  means  of  an  implication 
of  power  of  Congress,  gradually  to  undermine  State  sover- 
eignty, destroy  legislation  in  the  respective  States,  consolidate 
the  Union,  and  establish  on  the  ruins  of  States  Rights,  a 
central  sovereignty,  easily  controlled  or  managed  by  the  few 
at  the  expense  of  the  many.^ 

The  other  resolutions  recommended  the  passage  of  a  fugi- 
tive slave  law  and  endeavored  to  assuage  the  South  which 
was  talking  of  disunion. 

This  position  was  comliatted  by  the  free-soil  Democrats 
at  a  mass  meeting  at  Philadelphia  on  March  13,  1850. 
They  decried  the  abandoning  of  the  party  position  of  1849, 
which  they  declared  was  the  policy  not  only  of  the  state 

'  Public  Ledger,  January  24,  1850. 
*  Ibid.,  February  19,  1850. 
^  Ibid.,  February  23,  1850. 


417]    THE  SLAVERY  QUESTION  IN  STATE  POLITICS      171 

Democracy  but  also  of  the  state.  John  M.  Read,  the  prin- 
cipal speaker,  forcefully  emphasized  this  fact.  Free  soil 
was  required  for  free  labor,  he  contended,  as  was  proven 
by  the  absence  of  immigration  to  the  South. ^ 

These  mass  meetings  were  held  chiefly  as  replies  to  the 
call  for  the  Nashville  convention  and  the  subsequent  dis- 
union discussion.  The  Whig  journals  of  the  state,  relying 
on  the  coolness  and  firmness  of  the  President,  refused  ta 
become  excited  over  the  disunion  agitation.  One  of  them 
said,  "  The  chivalry  of  the  South  have  dissolved  the  Union 
any  day  these  three  months,  yet  it  stands  firm  and  we  can- 
not, for  the  soul  of  us,  feel  it  is  in  any  more  danger  to-day 
than  it  was  yesterday."  "  Another  of  the  journals  claimed 
that  the  Nashville  convention,  called  by  a  "  Southern  junto, 
who  are  desirous  of  dissolving  the  Union,  unless  they  can 
force  the  North  into  a  cowardly  compliance  with  their  un- 
righteous and  unjust  demands,  is  likely  to  prove  a  complete 
failure."  ^  When  the  convention  adjourned  without  ac- 
complishing anything.  F.  J.  Grund,  the  Washington  corres- 
pondent of  the  independent  Public  Ledger,  called  it 

humbug  No.  3.  The  first  humbug  was  the  \\'ilmot  Proviso; 
the  second  humbug  was  Col.  Jeff.  Davis'  Proviso,  (the  Missouri 
Compromise  line,  with  a  positive  recognition  of  slavery  south 
of  it),  and  the  third  is  the  attempt  of  a  handful  of  enthusiasts 
in  favor  of  Niggerdom  to  present  an  ultimatum  to  the  Congress 
of  the  United  States ! " 

In  the  meantime,  the  question  of  the  admission  of  Cali- 

'^  Public  Ledger,  March  14,  1450;  Read's  speech  in  full  in  ibid.,  April 
4.  1850. 

*  Daily  Commercial  Journal,  March  8,  1850. 

*  Pittsburgh  Gazette,  April  5,  1850. 

*  June  12,   1850.     Proceedings  of  the  Nashville  Convention  in  ibid., 
June  4-14,  1850. 


172 


THE  WHIG  PARTY  IN  PENNSYLVANIA  [418 


fornia  and  the  organization  of  the  neAV  territories  was 
closely  followed  by  the  public  as  it  was  discussed  in  Con- 
gress. The  Whigs  of  Pennsylvania  resented  the  fact  that 
these  two  questions  had  been  joined.  One  of  them  put 
it,  "  The  free  State  of  California,  with  as  just  a  right  of 
admission  as  any  State  in  the  Union,  is  to  be  made  the 
pack  horse  to  carry'  slavery  into  the  new  territories,  pro- 
vided nature  and  their  present  inhabitants  will  let  it  gd 
there."  ^  It  was  again  mildly  asserted  that  the  Whigs 
would  have  to  insist  on  the  Wilmot  Proviso  or  some  other 
compromise.^  The  continued  agitation  of  the  South  Caro- 
lina leaders  led  one  editor  wearily  to  express  the  hope  that 
there  might  be  found  a  way  to  let  her  "  slip  quietly  and 
peacefully  out  of  the  Union.  Since  the  days  of  her  Revo- 
lutionary deeds,  she  has  been  but  a  pest  and  a  nuisance;  and 
the  Union  could  well  spare  her,  and  Texas  to  boot."  ^  The 
passage  of  the  series  of  bills  in  September  was  considered 
to  settle  the  question  of  the  extension  of  slaver}^  in  the 
negative.* 

The  Whigs  of  Pennsylvania  were  from  the  opening  day 
of  Congress  eagerly  watching  the  apparently  interminable 
struggle  over  the  slavery  question  in  the  hope  that  it  would 
soon  be  ended  so  that  the  tariff  might  receive  some  atten- 
tion. Constantly  they  pointed  out  the  inadequacy  of  the 
existing  rates,  and  claimed  that  idle  mills  and  workingmen 
rioting  because  of  reduced  wages  were  the  result  of  the 
lack  of  protection  to  industry.^     This  state  of  affairs  was 

'  Pittsburgh  Gazette,  April  22,  1850. 

^  Daily  News,  Maj'  27,  1850. 

^  Daily  Commercial  Journal,  August  8,  1850. 

*Ibid.,  September  14,  1850. 

^  Ibid.,  March  9;  Pittsburgh  Gazette,  May  3;  Daily  News,  May  3,  1850. 
The  Public  Ledger,  May  18,  1850,  said  that  of  the  121  Hve  furnaces  in 
western  PeniTsylvania,  with  a  total  capacity  of  96,600  tons  per  annum, 
only  59  with  a  capacity  of  47,200  tons  per  annum  were  in  blast. 


419]     THE  SLAVERY  QUESTION  IN  STATE  POLITICS      173 

attributed  not  so  much  to  the  low  rates  as  to  the  ad  valorem 
principle  on  which  they  were  based/  Merchants,  farmers, 
and  the  manufacturing  class  all  felt  the  absence  of  protec- 
tion. Overproduction,  if  it  existed,  as  the  Democrats 
claimed  it  did,  existed  according  to  the  Whigs  only  in  the 
British  mills  and  certainly  not  in  the  American."  As  the 
session  dragged  on,  the  hope  of  the  Whigs  in  Pennsylvania 
that  the  tariff  would  be  favorably  altered  changed  to  dis- 
gust that  nothing  was  being  done.  An  editor  of  western 
Pennsylvania  thus  voiced  his  disapproval  at  the  continued 
neglect, 

While  our  leading  statesmen  are  willing  to  risk  their  reputation, 
for  wisdom  and  consistency,  by  concocting  unpalatable,  if  not 
disreputable,  compromises,  because  a  few  dissatisfied  spirits 
have  blustered  about  disunion,  they  seem  to  care  nothing  for 
the  desires  and  demands  and  necessities  of  hundreds  of  thous- 
ands of  toiling  freemen — which  the  present  policy  is  fast  im- 
poverishing. ...  Is  it  not  time  for  this  struggle  to  cease,  and 
for  some  useful  legislation  to  be  entered  upon?  ^ 

The  hope  that  the  tariff  might  l)e  considered  at  this  session 
of  Congress  was  crushed  when  the  southern  Whigs  joined 
the    Democrats    in    voting    to   postpone    the    question    of 

^Pittsburgh  Gazette,  April  9;  Daily  News,  April  17,  1850. 

^ Daily  Commercial  Journal,  August  ",  1850. 

*  Pittsburgh  Gazette^  May  13,  1850.  On  May  31,  1850,  Congressman 
Moses  Hampton,  of  the  Allegheny  district,  tendered  his  resignation. 
In  his  letter  to  the  Whig  county  convention,  he  said.  "  But  we  do 
not  admit  that  the  slave  holding  states  are  the  only  sufferers  by  a 
want  of  proper  legislation  for  the  protection  of  property,  for  I  will 
venture  to  say.  that  the  State  of  Pennsylvania  alone  has  lost  more  in 
a  pecuniary  point  of  view,  within  the  last  four  years,  by  tlie  repeal  of 
the  tariff  of  1842,  than  the  value  of  all  the  slaves  that  have  ever  escaped 
from  all  the  slave  holding  States,  since  the  formatinn  o{  the  I'nion." 
Daily  Commercial  Journal,  June  6,  1850. 


I-_j.  THE  WHIG  PARTY  IN  PENNSYLVANIA  [42O 

amending  the  tariff  until  after  the  settlement  of  the  slavery- 
issue/ 

The  state  parties,  in  the  meantime,  were  making  prepa- 
rations for  the  elections  of  that  year.  The  Democratic 
state  convention  met  at  Williamsport  on  May  29,  1850,  and 
on  the  twenty-sixth  ballot  nominated  \V.  T.  Morrison  for 
canal  commissioner."  Prior  toi  the  assembling  of  the  Whig 
state  convention  on  June  19,  the  county  conventions  of  the 
Whigs  called  for  changes  in  the  existing  tariff  and  for  no 
further  extension  of  slavery.^  Joshua  Dungan  was  nomi- 
nated by  the  W^higs  for  canal  commissioner.  Congress  had 
as  yet  taken  no  final  action  on  any  of  the  measures  before 
it.  The  convention  urged  speedy  action  on  the  tariff  and 
submitted  the  following  resolution. 

The  Whigs  of  Pennsylvania  desire  to  present  the  question  to 
the  present  Congress,  whether  their  action  on  the  subject  is  to 
be  controlled  by  the  wishes  of  the  British  Minister,  or  the 
voice  of  the  Northern  freemen  of  the  American  Union. 

The  Whigs  declared  that  they  were  "  opposed  as  they  have 
ever  been,  to  the  extension  of  slavery,"  and  that  they 
stood  "  neither  on  the  Baltimore  Platform  nor  the  Nash- 

^  Public  Ledger,  August  19,  1850;  Toombs  was'  reported  to  have  said 
privately  that  the  "  reason  for  his  vote  was  the  opposition  of  some  of 
the  leading  Whigs  to  the  settlement  of  the  slavery  question  on  equitable 
terms." 

*  Ibid.,  May  31,  June  3,  1850.  At  this  convention  Cameron  was  ac- 
cused of  attempting  to  bribe  delegates.  Pamphlet,  Report  of  the  Pro- 
ceedings of  the  Williamsport  Convention. 

*  The  York  county  resolutions  commended  the  governor  for  his  sturdy 
defense  of  the  state  against  the  attacks  in  the  Georgia  and  Virginia 
resolutions,  and  they  joined  the  Franklin  county  Whigs  in  condemning 
the  lower  house  of  the  legislature  for  refusing  to  publish  his  message. 
This  refusal  was  "  only  another  indication  of  the  willingness  of  that 
party  in  the  North  to  submit  to  the  requisitions  of  their  Southern 
allies."    Pittsburgh  Gazette,  June  3,   1850. 


^.21]    THE  SLAVERY  QUESTION  IN  STATE  POLITICS      175 

ville  Platform,  nor  any  other  local  or  temporary  structure, 
but  ....  on  the  great  structure  of  the  Constitution."  ^ 
Their  position  on  the  slavery  question  was  now  diametrically 
opposed  to  the  position  of  the  Democrats,  who  in  their 
state  convention  had  rejected  their  state  resolution  of  the 
year  before  and  had  endorsed  the  national  plank  of  1848. 

The  state  election  attracted  little  attention,  as.  the  session 
of  Congress  had  been  so  long  that  only  a  short  period  of 
time  intervened  between  adjournment  and  election  day. 
The  fact  that  the  acts  of  Congress  were  compromises  made 
it  impossible  to  use  them  in  the  campaign.  The  nipture  in 
Wilmct's  district,  which  had  developed  in  1848  over  the 
endorsement  of  Van  Buren.  was  healed  by  the  withdrawal 
both  of  Wilmot  and  of  his  rival  and  the  subsequent  nomina- 
tion of  Galusha  A.  Grow,  w4io  w^as  Wilmot's  law  partner 
and  had  been  adopted  as  a  compromise  candidate  at  his  in- 
sistence. The  views  of  Grow  on  the  slavery  question  were 
as  radical  as  those  of  Wilmot.'  The  majority  of  the  Whig 
candidates  for  Congress  had  free-soil  proclivities;^  but  the 
Whig  state  central  committee  in  discussing  the  issues  of  the 
election  did  not  introduce  the  slaver)^  question.  The  elec- 
tion was  declared  to  be  of  great  importance  because  the  new! 
legislature  w'ould  choose  a  federal  Senator  and  reapportion 
the  state.  Efforts  should  be  made  to  secure  the  Congress- 
men for  the  Whigs  since  the  tariff  needed  revision  and  since 
the  Democrats,  although  business  was  depressed,  were  op- 
posing any  alteration  in  the  tariff  schedule  on  the  ground 
that  it  would  be  inexpedient  to  make  changes.* 

^Public  Ledger,  June  20,  21,  1850. 

2  Ibid.,  October  8.  1850.  Grow  acknowledged  "  the  constitutional 
power  of  Congress  to  prohibit  by  positive  law,  the  extension  of 
slavery  into  the  territories  of  the  nation "  and  recognized  "  the 
necessity  for  the  exercise  of  this  power."  DuBois  and  Mathews, 
Galusha  A.  Grow,  pp.  67,  ct  seq. 

'  List  of  the  candidates  in  Public  Ledger,  October  8,  1850. 

*  Daily  Commercial  Journal.  September  16,  1850. 


176  THE  WHIG  PARTY  IN  PENNSYLVANIA  [422 

Before  election  day,  but  after  the  death  of  President  Tay- 
lor, the  "  Rough  and  Ready  County  Convention  "  of  Phila- 
delphia converted  itself  into  the  "  Whig  County  Conven- 
tion," an  act  which  clearly  illustrated  the  recession  of  the 
Native  .American  movement/  In  tlie  first  congressional 
district  the  Whigs  threw  their  influence  to  Levin,  the  Native 
American  candidate,  who  had  maintained  considerable 
strength  in  this  district.  A  faction  of  the  Whigs,  led  by 
Senator  Cooper  and  Josiah  Randall,  were  opposing  the 
leadership  of  the  party  by  the  governor.  This  faction 
nominated  a  Whig  candidate  for  Congress  in  the  first  dis- 
trict, who  diverted  votes  from  Levin  and  secured  the  elec- 
tion of  the  Democratic  candidate.^  The  Native  Americans; 
in  the  main  supported  the  Whig  nominees,  but  an  inde- 
pendent faction  polled  about  250  votes. ^  Despite  this  op- 
position the  Whigs  as  usual  secured  most  of  the  offices  in 
Philadelphia  city  and  county.* 

^  Daily  News,  August  15,  1850. 

2  Wm.  D.  Lewis,  September  21,  1850,  James  E.  Harvey,  October  14, 
1850,  to  Thomas  Corwin ;  Corwin  Papers,  Lib.  of  Cong.  Public 
Ledger,  October  i,  12,  1850. 

^  Daily  News,  October  12,  1850.  Early  in  1850,  there  occurred  a  new 
outbreak  of  anti-Catholicism,  but  this  time  in  Pittsburgh.  A  certain 
man,  by  the  name  of  Barker,  was  placed  in  jail  as  the  result  of  his 
vehement  anti-Catholic  street  preaching.  This  detention  was  consid- 
ered to  be  persecution,  with  the  result  that  Barker  was  nominated  for 
mayor  as  the  "  Anti^Catholic  and  People's  Candidate."  Largely  through 
the  votes  of  the  Whigs  he  defeated  both  his  Whig  and  Democratic 
opponents.  After  being  pardoned  by  Governor  Johnston  and  after 
being  released  from  jail,  he  served  his  term  as  mayor.  Pittsburgh 
Gazette,  January  9,  10;  Daily  Commercial  Journal,  January  11,  1850. 

*  Horn  R.  Kneass,  Democrat,  was  returned  as  elected  district-attorney 
of  the  county  of  Philadelphia.  His  opponent,  Wm.  B.  Reed,  appealed 
to  the  courts.  The  court  decided  that  Reed  had  been  duly  elected ; 
2  Pars.  Eq.  Cos.  553.  Judges  Wm.  D.  Kelley  and  King,  Democrats, 
as  the  result  of  this  decision  were  rejected  by  their  party,  but  Camp- 
bell, who  dissented,  the  following  year  received  a  nomination  to  the 


423]    THE  SLAVERY  QUESTION  IN  STATE  POLITICS      177 

The  election  for  state  officers  showed  a  Democratic 
majority  of  about  13,500.*  The  Whigs  secured  only  nine 
of  the  twenty-four  Congressmen,  and  controlled  neither 
of  the  two  houses  of  the  legislature.  Consequently,  a 
Democratic  Senator,  Richard  Brodhead,  was  chosen  to  re- 
present the  state  at  Washington.^  The  constitutional  amend- 
ment to  make  the  judges  of  the  supreme  court  of  the  state 
elective  by  the  people  was  adopted  by  a  large  majority.*  In 
contrasting  this  election  with  the  one  of  1848,  the  large 
decrease  in  the  number  of  votes  cast  is  at  once  noticeable. 
The  loss  to  both  parties  was  great  but  was  much  greater  for 
the  Whigs,  who  were  unable  to  hold  the  vx)ters  who  had  been 
attracted  in  1848  by  the  candidacy  of  General  Taylor. 

As  previously  mentioned,  the  distribution  of  the  federal 
patronage  in  Pennsylvania  caused  a  division  in  the  Whig 
ranks.  Senator  Cooper,  who  was  dissatisfied  with  the 
reception  of  his  suggestions  to  William  D.  Lewis  about  mert 
to  be  appointed  to  subordinate  positions  in  the  customs 
house,  attempted  to  block  the  confirmation  of  Lewis'  nomi- 
nation to  the  collectorship  of  the  port  of  Philadelphia.  The 
appointment  had  barely  been  made,  when  charges  of  fraud 
were    presented    against    Lewis.*     Gk)vernor    Johnston,    a 

supreme  court  of  the  state.  The  following  year  Kelley  was  nominated 
by  the  Whigs  to  be  President  Judge  of  the  county.  Despite  the  bitter 
attacks  of  the  Democrats  and  of  a  few  Native  Americans,  he  was 
easily  elected.  Public  Ledger,  October  11,  1851.  Subsequently  Kelley 
changed  from  a  free-trader  to  a  high  protectionist. 
'  Public  Ledger,  October  24,  1850. 

*  Ibid.,  January  2,  15,  1851. 

*  House  Journal,  1851,  vol  i,  p.  403;  the  vote  for  the  amendment  was 
144,594,  against  it  71,005 

*  Pamphlet  by  \Vm.  D.  Lewis,  A  brief  Account  of  the  lltforts  of  Sena- 
tor Conprr  .  ...  to  prevent  the  Confirmation  of  ITm.  D.  Lewis: 
also,  Preliminary  Reply  of  Mr.  Levin  to  Senator  Cooper;  \-ariou3 
letters  in  the  Corwin  Papers,  Lib.  of  Cong. 


178  T^i^  WHIG  PARTY  I.\  PENNSYtyANlA  [424 

supporter  of  Lewis,  strongly  opposed  the  efforts  which 
were  being  made  to  secure  his  removal,  which  was  being 
advocated,  he  felt,  "  for  no  other  reason  than  the  gratifica- 
tion of  a  few  gentlemen  who  have  private  griefs  against 
the  present  incumbents."  ^  The  result  of  the  charges  was 
an  ofticial  investigation,  which  failed  to  establish  any  guilt 
on  the  part  of  Lewis."  The  outcome  of  the  investigation 
was  that  the  state  administration,  e\'en  though  it  had 
strong  free-soil  tendencies,  rather  than  the  supporters 
of  Senator  Cooper  would  receive  the  aid  of  the  national 
administration  in  controlling  the  state  party.  Randall,  one 
of  Cooper's  chief  co-workers,  sadly  acknowledged  defeat 
as  follows. 

If  the  administration  continue  to  give  the  Free  Soil  party  of 
Pennsylvania  their  support  and  patronage,  time  will  develop 
what  course  we  shall  take,  whether  we  shall  raise  the  standard 
of  opposition  or  retire  and  ground  our  arms — but  in  no  event 
could  we  unite  with  Seward,  Clayton,  Johnston  &  Co.  Respect 
to  ourselves — to  you — and  our  other  friends — and  the  prin- 
ciples which  you  and  we  have  so  triumphantly  maintained 
would  forbid  so  unholy  a  combination.-'' 

Johnston,  on  the  other  hand,  had  been  waiting  for  the 
decision  of  the  administration  before  deciding  on  his  course 
of  action.  It  was  not  until  after  Corwin's  letter  of  April 
16  exonerating  I^wis  had  l>een  published  that  he  aimounced 
his  intention  to  stand  for  reelection  as  the  Whig  candidate. 
Had   he   refused   to   be   the   Whig  candidate,    his   refusal 

'  Wm.  F.  Johtiston,  April  11,  1851,  to  Millard  Fillmore;  copy  in  the 
Corwin  Papers,  Lib.  of  Cong. 

*  Letter  of  Thomas  Corwin,  Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  in  the  Public 
Ledger,  April  18,  1851. 

'Josiah  Randall,  April  30,  1851.  10  Webster;  Websfr  Papers,  Lib.  of 
Cong. 


425]    THE  SLAVERY  QUESTION  IN  STATE  POLITICS      ijg 

would  have  meant  the  shortening  of  the  life  of  the  Whig 
party  within  the  state. 

When  the  Whig  state  convention  met  at  Lancaster  on 
June  24,  it  unanimcaisly  nominated  Johnston  for  reelection 
on  the  first  ballot.  John  Strohm,  whose  vote  in  the  senate 
in  1838  had  been  instrumental  in  ending  the  Buckshot  War 
by  securing  the  recognition  of  the  Hopkins  house,  wa^^ 
selected  as  the  party  candidate  for  canal  c>vmmissioner. 
The  convention  also  selected  candidates  ior  the  state 
supreme  court,  one  of  whom  was  Richard  Coulter,  a  member 
of  the  existing  bench.  Coulter  had  been  proposed  to  but 
not  accepted  by  the  Democratic  convention  to  nominate 
judicial  candidates.  The  resolutions,  which  were  adopted 
by  a  vote  of  92  to  27,  clearly  indicated  that  the  Whigi 
party  was  under  the  control  of  the  free-soil  element. 
The  resolutions  advocated  a  thoroughgoing  revision  of  the 
tariff.  The  convention  refused  to  endorse  the  recent  c^^m- 
prcmises  of  Congress  and  merely  "  Resolved,  that  the  ad- 
justment measures  of  the  last  Congress  shall  be  faithfully 
obser\'ed  and  respected  by  the  Whigs."  The  twenty- ser\'eT» 
members  voting  in  the  negative  wished  to  endorse  the 
compromises  in  unmistakably  strong  language.  Some 
members  of  the  convention,  refusing  to  vote  on  the  resolu- 
tions, opp-vsed  them  l>ccau>e  of  their  free-soil  expressions. 
One  of  them,  ex-Congressman  Ogle,  said  that  he  was 
"  against  slavery  in  any  shape,  and  especially  against  that 
slavery  which  three  thousand  alx>litionists  in  Pennsylvania 
would  establish  in  regard  to  politics  and  politicians  in  the 
State!"  The  convention  indicated  that  its  choice  for  the 
next  presidential  candidate  was  General  Winficld  Sc  >tt. 
In  a  speech  immediately  following  his  nominatioai.  Gover- 
nor Johnston,  in  outlining  his  views  cm  the  slaver\'  ques- 
tion, said  that  he  would  not  have  voted  for  either  the  Texa^^ 
Boundan,'  Bill  or  the  Fugitive  Slave  Bill  but,   since  they 


l8o  THE  WHIG  PARTY  IN  PENNSYLVANIA  [426 

were  the  law  of  the  land,  these  two  measures  would  have 
to  be  respected.  He,  however,  insisted  that  the}'  needed 
amendment/ 

The  Democrats  held  two  conventions,  the  one  to  nominate 
the  usual  state  officers  and  the  other  to  select  candidates  for 
the  supreme  court.  The  first  convention,  which  met  at 
Reading  on  June  4,  was  completely  under  the  ojntrol  of 
the  Buchanan  forces.  William  Bigler  was  nominated  for 
governor  and  Seth  Clover  for  canal  ci  mmissioner.  Bigler 
was  not  a  novice  in  state  pohtics,  having  served  two  terms 
in  the  senate  and  having  held  a  number  of  appointive  offices. 
His  career  had  been  an  upward  struggle  from  obscurity  and 
poverty  to  prominence  and  wealth.  The  early  death  of 
his  father,  caused  by  a  fruitless  effort  to  gain  a  livelihood 
from  a  wild  tract  in  Mercer  county,  terminated  his  brief 
school  career.  He  served  an  apprenticeship  of  three  years 
on  the  Centre  Democrat  under  his  brother  John,  who  later 
was  chosen  the  first  governor  of  California  in  the  same  year 
his  erstwhile  apprentice  was  elected  governor  of  Pennsyl- 
vania. Bigler  after  serving  his  apprenticeship  borrowed 
money  to  purchase  a  second-hand  press  and  haJf-wom  type. 
With  this  equipment,  in  1833,  he  moved  to  Clearfield  ccmnty 
to  establish  the  Clearfield  Democrat,  "  as  he  used  afterwards* 
in  a  jocular  spirit  to  characterize  it,  an  eight-by-ten  Jackson 
paper,  to  counteract  the  influence  of  a  seven-by-nine  Whig 
paper  which  had  preceded  him  into  that  mountainous  re- 
gion." ^  After  a  few  years,  he  sold  the  paper,  became  in- 
terested in  the  lumber  business,  and  soon  was  one  of  the 
largest  prixiucers  of  timber  on   the  West   Branch  of  the 

'  Public  Ledger,  June  25-30,  1851.  Stevens'  control  of  the  Wliig  party 
in  Lancaster  county  was  weakened.  His  vote  in  1850  had  been  smaller! 
than  in  1848.  This  year  the  county  convention  did  not  elect  him  a 
delegate  to  the  state  convention.    Pittsburgh  Gazette,  June  19,  1851. 

» Armor,  Lives  of  the  Governors  of  Pennsylvania,  p.  414. 


^7]    ^^£  SLAVERY  QUESTION  IN  STATE  POLITICS      jgi 

Susquehanna  River.  The  pc-n'c-fion  of  wealth  did  not 
diminish  his  ardor  for  the  Demxrracy,  nor  was  the  nature 
of  his  business  such  as  to  influence  him  to  favor  a  prctective 
tariff.  On  the  slavery  question,  his  views  had  shifted  with 
those  of  his  party,  and  he  was  in  full  sympathy  with  the 
action  of  the  conventii>n. 

The  resolutions  urged  the  repeal  c>f  the  state  statute  of 
March  3,  1847,  which  forbade  the  use  of  the  state  jails  for 
the  detention  of  fugitive  slaves.  The  compromise  measures 
of  1850  were  fully  endorsed,  but  on  the  tariff  question  am 
ambiguous  resolution  was  adopted.^  On  June  1 1  a  different 
set  of  delegates  assembled  at  llarrisburg  to  nominate  candi- 
dates to  the  supreme  court.  Amongst  the  five  nominees  was 
James  Campbell,  of  Philadelphia,  who  was  ch  >sen  despite 
strenuous  objections.'  A  group  uf  leading  Democratic  law- 
yers of  Philadelphia  declared  that  he  was  mentally  incapable 
of  performing  the  duties  of  a  justice  of  the  state  supreme 
court,  that  his  endorsement  at  the  Philadelphia  county 
primary  had  been  secured  by  fraud,  and  that  he  had  been 
endorsed  in  large  measure  because  he  was  an  Irishman  and 
a  Catholic.^ 

In  the  campaign  of  this  year  the  Whigs  attempted  to  make 
the  tariff  the  chief  issue.  Constantly  they  referred  to  the 
depressed  condition  of  the  iron  industry-.  They  could  not 
Ignore  the  question  of  the  compromises,  so  they  generally 
adopted  the  position  which  had  been  taken  by  Governor 
Johnstc-n  that  the  law  must  be  obeyed  as  long  as  it  re- 
mained on  the  statute  books  but  that  these  measures  taught 
to  be  amended.*     In  the  meantime,  G.A-emor  J.  hnston  was 

*  Pubhc  Ledger,  Jun€  5,  6,  1851. 

*  Ibid.,  June  12,  13,  1851. 

*  Ibid.,  May  31,  1851. 

*  Pittsburgh   Caeette,  June    ig,    1851 ;   Pennsyh-ania   Inquirer,  Aatrust 
22,   1851.     In  some  of  the  cotinties,   where  the  fre«-soil  «U-ment   was 


l82  THE  WHIG  PARTY  IN  PENNSYLVANIA  [428 

withholding  his  signature  to  a  bill  repealing  the  sections  of 
the  act  of  March  3,  1847,  which  forbade  the  use  of  the 
state  jails  for  the  retention  of  captured  fugitive  slaves. 
The  Democrats  were  trying  to  make  his  refusal  to  sign  the 
bill  the  issue  of  the  campaign/  The  Wh'gs  showed  that 
this  act  of  March  3,  1847,  had  passed  the  legislature  with- 
out a  roll-call  and  had  been  signed  by  a  Democratic  gov- 
ernor. Amongst  those  in  the  senate  when  the  bill  had 
passed  without  objection  was  William  Bigler,  now  the  De- 
mocratic candidate  for  governor.  With  this  reply  the 
Whigs  answered  the  criticisms  of  their  opponents  and  con- 
tinued to  discuss  the  need  of  tariff  reform  and  the  value  of 
the  state  sinking  fund,  which  had  been  inaugurated  by 
Johnston.  The  Whigs  were  making  headway  with  their 
campaign  arguments,  when,  on  September  n,  occurred  the 
Christiana  riot.  This  event  completely  changed  the  issue 
and  put  the  Whigs  on  the  defensive. 

In  order  to  understand  properly  the  manner  in  which  the 
Christiana  riot  influenced  the  election,  it  will  be  necessary 
to  review^  the  enforcement  of  the  Fugitive  Slave  Law  of 

particularly  ^■trong.  the  attacks  on  slavery  by  the  Whigs  were  severe. 
In  Beaver  county  they  resolved,  "That  on  the  subject  of  slavery  v/e 
maintain  the  position  we  have  always  occupied,  looking  upon  it  as 
an  institution  at  variance  with  religion,  the  rights  of  man,  and  civil 
liberty,  as  well  as  subversive  of  the  best  interests  of  those  among 
whom  it  exists;  and  therefore  we  cannot  help  expressing  our  dissatis- 
faction with  the  provisions  of  the  fugitive  slave  law."  Pittsburgh 
Gazette,  June  27,   1851. 

'On  May  5,  1851,  Bigler  wrote  Buchanan,  "What  will  Gov.  Johnston 
do  with  the  repealing  section?  If  he  signs  it,  the  Liberty  men  in 
the  West  will  not  touch  him  but  will  bring  a  man  of  their  own  into 
the  field.  If  he  refuses  to  sign  it,  he  cannot  maintain  h  mself  with 
a  certain  class  of  Whigs.  This  is  his  dilemma.  Our  course  is  to 
sustain  the  letter  and  spirit  of  the  Compromise.  If  Gov.  J.  refuses 
to  sign  the  bill  now  in  his  hands,  this  will  be  the  grjat  issue." 
Buchanan  Mss.  See  also  tlie  proceedings  of  a  Democratic  mee.ing 
at  which  Bigler  stressed  this  point;  Public  Ledger,  August  4,  22,  1851. 


429]    T^i^  SLAVERY  QUESTION  L\  STATE  POLITICS      183 

1850  within  the  state.  The  law  had  scarcely  been  enacted 
bef<->re  an  excnJus  of  negroes  to  the  north  was  noticed,  even 
thcrse  who  for  years  had  lived  in  certain  communities  near 
the  Mason  and  Dixon  line  left  their  old  abodes.'  One 
month  after  the  passage  of  the  act,  on  October  18,  1850, 
the  first  case  before  a  federal  court  came  up  for  decision  in 
Philadelphia  bef  c-re  Judges  Grier  and  Kane,  who  detennined 
that  the  alleged  fugitive  slave  should  be  tried  before  the 
United  States  Circuit  Court  and  not  before  the  commis- 
sioner. The  fugitive  was  ordered  to  be  released  on  the 
technical  ground  that  ownership  was  not  legally  established 
by  the  claimant,  who  had  failed  properly  to  authenticate  the 
will  under  which  he  was  executor  and  residuary  legatee. 
The  decision  seemed  to  indicate  that  the  law  would  be 
strictly  applied  against  the  claimant.^     Although  the  fugi- 

^  Fublic  Ledger,  September  25,  October  2;  Pittsburgh  Gazette,  Sep- 
tember 24,  1850;  cf.  also  Fred  Landoi>,  "Negro  Migration  to  Canada," 
Journal  of  Segro  History,  January,  1920;  Siebert,  Underground  Rail- 
road, p.  249.  A  comparison  of  the  census  returns  of  1850  and  1800 
show's  an  increase  in  the  negro  population  of  the  state,  which  ia 
equaled  by  the  increase  in  the  neighborhood  of  Philadelphia.  Around 
Pittsburgh  and  in  the  counties  along  the  Maryland  border,  there  was! 
a  marked  decrease,  which  is  balanced  liy  the  increase  in  the  counties 
of  the  interior,  particularly  in  those  near  llarrisburg. 

*  Ex  parte  Garnet.  Fed.  Cases  5243;  Public  Ledger,  October  19,  185a 
There  had  been  an  earlier  case  under  the  new  law,  which  had  resulted 
in  the  remanding  of  the  negroes.  Three  negroes  escaped  from  Vir- 
ginia taking  some  horses  to  aid  them.  They  were  pursued  by  their" 
owners  and  overtaken  at  Harrisburg.  Since  they  could  not  be  detained 
in  the  county  jail  ars  fugitive  slaves,  they  were  charged  with  larceny, 
and  held  on  the  order  of  a  justice  of  the  peace.  On  a  writ  of  habeas 
corpus  they  were,  on  .August  24.  1850,  brought  before  the  Dauphin 
county  court.  They  were  ordered  to  be  released  on  the  ground  that 
the  warrant  of  arrest  did  not  state  where  the  crime  had  been  com- 
mitted and  that  the  ownership  of  the  property  alleged  to  have  been 
stolen  was  not  sufficiently  averred.  The  court  intimated  that  the 
negroes  might  be  seized  as  escaped  slaves.  Commonwealth  t'.  Wilson 
et   a!.,    I    Phila.   Rep.   80.     The   su'^ge^tion   of   the   court    was   adopte.l 


1 8^  THE  WHIG  PARTY  IN  PENNSYLVANIA  [430 

tive  in  this  case  was  freed,  yet  misunderstandings  of  the 
decision  prevailed.  The  doubt  as  to  the  fairness  of  proce- 
dure Judge  Grier  tried  to  remove  by  a  public  letter  in 
which  he  stated  that  under  the  law  the  alleged  fugitive 
slave  was  granted  the  same  protection  accorded  a  white 
man  who  was  threatened  with  extradition.  For  both  men 
the  only  question  involved  was  one  of  identity.^  While  the 
case  had  been  in  progress,  threats  of  violence  had  been  heard. 
Judge  Grier  made  it  understood  that  he  was  determined  to 
carry  the  case  through,  even  though  it  might  be  necessary 
to  call  on  the  President  for  a  thousand  soldiers.* 

At  times,  however,  the  apprehension  of  the  fugitives  was 
prevented,^  and  opposition  to  the  law  was  freely  and  openly 
expressed,  chiefly  by  the  Whigs.*     On  November  18,  1850, 

as  the  negroes  were  leaving  the  jail.  Rioting  followed  during  whichj 
one  of  the  slaves  escaped.  The  owners,  the  other  two  slaves,  andl 
several  of  the  crowd  were  imprisoned  for  rioting  and  bound  over  foil 
an  appearance  at  the  next  session  of  the  Court  of  Quarter  Sessions ; 
Public  Ledger,  August  25,  26,  27,  185a  On  September  30,  without  any 
excitement,  the  slaves  were  handed  over  to  their  owners  under  the 
authority  of  the  new  law;  ibid.,  October  i,  i8sa  A  verdict  of  "not 
guilty"  was  returned  in  the  case  of  the  owners  and  assistants;  G>m- 
monwealth  v.  Wm.  Taylor  et  ai,  4  Clark  (Pa.)  48a 

1  Public  Ledger,  October  28,  1850. 

*  Ibid.,  October  19,  1850. 

^  The  failure  to  capture  a  party  of  thirteen  escaped  negroes  because 
of  the  intervention  of  the  citizens  of  Wilkes-Barre  is  noted;  Public 
Ledger,  October  21,  1850. 

*  The  Pittsburgh  Gazette,  October  20,  1850,  held  the  law  to  be  "  mor- 
ally void,  although  legally  binding,"  and  it  resisted  "  not  the  con- 
stitutional requirement,  but  the  unncces.^ry  and  d«grading  encroach- 
ment upon  the  rights  and  feelings  of  the  people  of  the  free  States,  in 
enforcing  its  claims."  Thaddeus  Stevens,  in  a  case  before  the  United 
States  District  Court,  was  reported  to  have  urged  citizens  to  aid 
escaping  slaves,  to  have  called  the  law  "  hateful,"  and  to  have  appealed 
to  the  "  higher  law."  For  this  speech  he  was  taken  to  task  by  hia 
fellow  counsel  in  the  case,  Wni.  B.  Reed;  Daily  News,  October  24,  1850. 
The  Daily  News,  Senator  Cooper's  organ,  upheld  the  law;  October 
23,  24,  1850. 


^31  ]    THE  SLAyERY  QUESTION  IN  STATE  POLITICS      185 

Judge  Kane  of  the  United  States  District  Court  charged 
his  grand  jury  to  be  on  the  watch  for  those  who  were  ob- 
structing the  operation  of  the  law.  But,  he  cautioned  them, 
"  I  would  distinguish  liberally,  and  I  would  have  you  to 
distinguish  between  mere  extravagance  of  diction  and  the 
endeavor  by  threats  or  force  to  obstruct  the  execution  of 
the  laws  of  the  country."  ^  Three  days  later  a  large  Union 
meeting  was  held  at  Philadelphia,  at  which  resolutions  cal- 
ling for  the  repeal  of  the  act  of  March  3,  1847,  and  for 
hearty  support  of  the  compromises  were  adopted.  Thid 
meeting,  sponsored  only  by  the  Democrats  and  by  the  anti- 
Johnston  Whigs,  was  of  great  service  in  the  South  in  quiet- 
ing the  fear  that  the  Fugitive  Slave  Law  would  not  be  en- 
forced in  Pennsylvania.^ 

The  next  case  under  the  law  was  tried  before  Commis- 
sioner Ingraham  at  Philadelphia  in  December,  1850,  and 
caused  much  unfavorable  comment.  An  alleged  fugitive 
slave,  Adam  Gibson,  on  insufficient  testimony  and  after  aii 
imperfect  hearing,  was  placed  in  the  custody  of  the  agents 
of  the  claimant  to  be  conveyed  to  him  in  Marj'land.  When 
the  negro  was  taken  to  his  alleged  owner,  the  reception  of 
the  negro  was  refused  because  he  was  not  the  runaway 
slave.  Although  many  persons  had  been  attracted  to  the 
trial  of  the  negro,  yet  there  had  been  no  attempt  made  to» 
block  the  proceedings  by  a  rescue.  On  the  return  of  the 
negro  to  Philadelphia,  not  only  the  commissioner  but  also 
the  law  received  a  vast  amount  of  harsh  criticism.*  In 
March,  1851,  Price,  the  agent  in  the  Gibson  case,  was  sen- 
tenced by  a  state  court  to  a  term  of  impris  4iment  for  eight 

'  PubHc  Ledger,  November  19,  1850. 

*  Ib^d.,  November  22,  185a 

*  Itnd.,  December  23,  24;  even  the  Daily  News,  December  24,   1850, 
attacked  the  "  new  judge  in  Israel." 


l86  THE  WHIG  PARTY  IN  PENNSYLVANIA  [432 

years  in  the  Eastern  Penitentary  for  the  technical  kidnap- 
ing of  a  child  bom  in  Pennsylvania,  who  had  been  spirited 
away  with  its  mother,  an  escaped  slave.  For  being  impli- 
cated in  the  same  case,  George  Alberti  received  a  ten  years' 
sentence.^  The  conviction  and  the  sentencing  of  these  two 
men  was  used  by  the  southern  newspapers  to  prove  to  their 
readers  that  the  people  of  the  North  were  unwilling  to  abide 
by  the  recent  compromises.^ 

After  the  conviction  of  Alberti  and  Price,  Governor  John- 
ston requested  Governor  Lowe  of  Maryland  to  extradite 
J.  S.  Mitchel,  the  owner  of  the  woman.  This  request  was 
refused.^  In  the  meantime,  attacks  on  the  statute  of  March 
3,  1847,  continued,  and  urgent  demands  for  its  repeal  were 
made.*  In  a  special  message  to  the  legislature  Governor 
Johnston  defended  the  act  and  replied  to  the  criticisms  of 
Governor  Ijdwq.  The  dispute  between  Maryland  and 
Pennsylvania  involved  the  question  of  the  freedom  of  child- 
ren bom  in  a  free  state  of  a  slave  mother.  The  common 
law,  which  Maryland  followed,  held  that  a  child  so  bom 
was  slave,  while  Pennsylvania  by  statute  had  declared  that 
the  child  was  free.  Thc«e,  who  opposed  the  act  of  March 
3,  1847,  claimed  that  a  great  deal  of  misunderstanding 
would  be  averted  by  its  repeal.  The  agitation  for  the  re- 
peal of  the  act  finally  resulted  in  the  passage  of  a  bill  to 
accomplish  this.     The  bill  was  passed  just  before  the  close 

■  Commonwealth  v.  Alberti  et  al.,  2  Pars.  Eq.  Cas.  495 ;  Public  Ledger^ 
January  6,  March  6,  1851.  In  1850,  in  Cumberland  county,  a  kidnapper 
had  been  convicted  under  the  act  of  1847,  the  constitutionality  of 
which  had  been  upheld,  although  it  ran  counter  to  the  common  law 
principle  of  partus  scquitur  vcntrem;  4  Clark  (Pa.)  431. 

*  Public  Ledger,  September  9,  1851. 

^  Ibid.,  March  10.  1851 ;  cf.  message  of  Governor  E.  L.  Lowe  of  Mary- 
land on  January  7,  1852,  for  his  views  on  the  trial  of  Alberti;  Mary- 
land Legislative  Documents,  1852,  pp.  33-40. 

*  Mass  meeting  of  anti-Jolinston  Whigs,  Philadelphia,  F'ebruary  27, 
1851 ;  Pubti<-  Ledger,  F"ebruary  28,  1851. 


433]     ^^^^  SLAVERY  QUESTION  L\  STATE  POLITICS      iSy 

of  the  legislative  sessioti,  and  Governor  Johnston  was  with- 
holding his  signature,  for  which  he  was  being  attacked  dur- 
ing the  course  of  the  campaign. 

The  chief  criticism  against  the  Fugitive  Slave  Law  wxs 
because  of  the  creation  of  the  special  tribunals/  So  intense 
was  the  opposition  to  this  feature  of  the  law,  particularly 
after  the  hasty  decision  in  the  Gibson  Case,  that  Judge 
Kane  of  the  United  States  EHstrict  had  the  cases  arising 
within  the  next  few  months  after  that  decision  brought 
from  tlie  commissioner  before  him  on  writs  of  habeas 
corpus.-  In  all  the  cases,  although  there  was  always  con- 
siderable excitement,  there  w^as  no  attempt  at  a  rescue, 
whether  the  alleged  fugitive  were  remanded  or  set  free.^ 

Then  occurred  the  Christiana  riot  in  Lancaster  county  on 
September  ii,  1851,  which  resulted  in  the  death  of  Edward 
Gorsuch,  the  owner  of  the  alleged  fugitives,  and  the  wound- 
ing of  his  son.*  This  portion  of  the  state,  lying  close 
to  the  Maryland  border,  was  a  refuge  for  fugitives.  It 
had  also  been  the  scene  of  several  recent  "  kidnaping " 
expeditions  and  feeling  against  the  "  slave-catchers  "  wa^ 
running  high.^     The  riot  was  immediately  seized  upon  by 

^  Message  of  Governor  Johnston  of  January  8,  1851 ;  Public  Ledger, 
January  o,  1851.  This  annual  message  has  been  omitted  from  the 
Pcnnsyhvnia  Archives. 

'Summary  of  three  cases  in  May,  The  Fugitive  Slaie  I.atv  and  its 
Victims;  for  other  cases  r/.  Public  Ledger  January  25,  -.7,  -.»8,  Feb- 
ruary 7,  8,  10,  March  8,  10.  11,  12,  13,  14,  1S51. 

*  In  addition  to  the  references  in  the  note  above  cf.  Public  Ledger, 
December  17,  1850;  I-Vbruary  14,  March  14,  April  24.  July  3,  2^. 
August  19,  1851. 

*  Hensel,  The  Christiana  Riots  and  the  Treason  Triols  of  iSf,i;  Public 
Ledger,  September  12-18,  1851. 

^  Heiisel.  o/>.  cit.,  pp.  16,  et  scq.;  Public  Ledger,  Janua-y  21.  March  19, 
185 1.  The  people  of  the  neighborhood  in  a  mt-etm:^  had  rc^olvrd  to 
refuse  to  assist  in  enforcing  the  law  and  to  aid  all  fug  lives  in  escaping; 
quoted  from  the  Lancaster  Examiner  by  the  Public  Ledger,  September 
18.  1851. 


1 88  THE  WHIG  PARTY  IN  PENNSYLVANIA  [434 

the  Democrats  as  proof  of  their  claim  that  the  Whigs — for 
this  was  one  of  their  strongholds — were  encouraging  resis- 
tance to  the  enforcement  of  the  Fugitive  Slave  Law.  The 
resistance  had  led  to  the  murder  of  an  individual  relying 
on  the  law  to  recover  his  property. 

On  September  14  the  leading  Democrats  of  Philadelphia 
issued  a  call  for  a  mass  meeting  to  be  held  on  the  seven- 
teenth to  take  action  on  the  recent  resistance  to  the  laws', 
and  to  prevent  another  outbreak.  They  also  issued  an  open 
letter  to  the  governor  stating  that  the  memorialists  were 
"  not  aware  that  any  military  force  has  been  sent  to  the 
seat  of  the  insurrection,  or  that  the  civil  authority  has  been 
strengthened  by  the  adoption  of  any  measures  suited  to  the 
momentous  crisis."  The  governor,  who  was  in  Phrla- 
delphia  on  the  following  day,  issued  a  proclamation,  pre- 
viously prepared,  offering  a  reward  for  the  arrest  of  those 
guilty  of  the  murder.  In  reply  to  the  open  letter,  the  gov- 
ernor denied  that  there  was  an  insurrectionary  movement 
in  Lancaster  county  and  said  that  he  would  not  excite  the 
public  by  marching  troops  into  that  county.  Those  guilty  of 
the  crime  of  murder  and  of  resistance  to  the  law  would  be 
punished.  He  asked  for  the  cooperation  of  the  memorial- 
ists, "  as  citizens  of  Pennsylvania,  not  only  to  see  that  the 
law  is  enforced,  but  to  add  to  the  confidence  which  we  all 
feel  in  the  judicial  tribunals  of  the  land,  by  abstaining  from 
undue  violence  of  language,  and  letting  the  law  take  its 
course."  That  evening  the  Whigs  held  a  previously  sche- 
duled mass  meeting,  at  which  the  governor  defended  hial 
course  in  withholding  his  signature  from  the  repealing  bill. 
To  the  governor's  letter  and  to  his  speech  the  Democrats 
rejoined, 

The  purpose  of  our  communication  has  been  entirely  miscon- 
ceived by  you.     The  crime  which  had  been  perpetrated  in  our 


435]    7"H£  SLAVERY  QUESTION  IN  STATE  POLITICS      189 

immediate  neighborhocxl  was  treason,  in  preventing,  by  armed 
resistance,  the  enforcement  of  a  law  of  the  United  States.  Our 
purpose  was  to  request  your  attention  to  this  fact  and  not  to 
censure  the  local  police  of  a  county,  as  you  suppose. 

They  also  accused  the  governor  of  tardiness  in  issuing  his 
proclamation.  The  signers  declared  their  belief  that  resis- 
tance to  the  law  would  again  be  attempted  and  that  his  letter 
would  encourage  this  lawless  design.  *'  We  understand  it 
as  a  declaration  of  your  opinion  that  there  should  be  no 
change  in  the  course  of  the  State  government,  and  that  no 
public  measures  of  State  are  required  in  order  to  prevent 
the  recurrence  of  the  late  bloody  outrage."  ^  The  Demcn 
crats  relied  exclusively  on  this  riot  in  the  closing  days  of 
the  campaign  for  their  election  material.  In  addition  to 
their  correspondence  with  the  governor,  the  Democrats  made 
effective  use  of  a  letter  from  the  Reverend  Gorsuch,  son  of 
the  murdered  man,  in  which  charges  of  neglect  of  duty 
were  made  against  Governor  Johnston. 

Judge  Kane  of  the  United  States  District  Court  gave 
strength  to  tlie  Democratic  contention  that  treason  had  been 
committed  when  his  charge  to  the  grand  jury  on  September 
29  included  a  discussion  of  that  crime."  With  this  crime 
the  men,  who  had  been  arrested  for  being  implicated  in  the 
riot,  were  charged.  Although  the  trials  did  not  cc/me  until 
after  the  election,  nevertheless,  the  charge  of  the  judge  and 
the  indictments  were  used  by  the  Democrats  as  election 
material  to  prove  the  depravity  of  the  Whigs.'     The  Whigs 

^  GDrrcspondence  in  Hensel,  op.  rj<.,  pp.  145,  et  seq.;  Public  Ledger, 
September  15,  16,  17,  1851. 

'Charge  to  the  grand  jury  in  2  li^all.  Jr.  134. 

*  For  the  trials  cf.  United  States  z:  llanway,  2  IVall.  Jr.  130,  in  which 
the  jury  after  an  ab>ence  of  twenty  minutes  returned  a  verdict  of  "  not 
guilty"  on  the  diarge  of  treason.  This  was  the  leading  case  an'!  the 
others  were    dismissed    by   writs   of    nolle    prosequi.     A    certain   indi- 


I^  THE  WHIG  PARTY  IN  FEWNSYLVANIA  [436 

vigorously  denied  that  they  were  responsible  for  the  riot 
and  that  they  were  a  party  of  disorder.  One  of  their- 
papers  put  it: 

The  Whigs  of  Pennsylvania,  with  Governor  Johnston  at  their 
head,  are  a  Union  loving,  law  abiding,  and  mob  hating  people, 
and  they  hurl  back  with  scorn,  the  base  and  contemptible 
innuendoes  of  their  opponents.  If  ever  the  true  patriots  of 
Pennsylvania  have  to  weep  over  outraged  laws,  violated  en- 
gagements, and  connivance  with  rapine  and  murder,  they  will 
find  the  actors  in  the  tragedy,  not  among  the  Whigs,  but  in 
that  party  which  has  always  justified  wrong  when  it  led  to 
aggrandisement,  and  which  is  now  even  reeking  with  the  blood 
of  its  Cuban  victims.^ 

On  October  14  the  election  was  held  with  a  very  heavy 
vote  being  polled.  The  vote  for  governor  exceeded  the  vote 
of  1848  for  the  same  office  by  29,400  votes  but  fell  2,500- 
short  of  the  vote  cast  for  President  in  the  same  year. 
Bigler  received  8,455  more  votes ^-than  Johnston,  who  in 
1848  had  had  a  majority  of  about  300.  The  increased  vote 
of  this  year  was  distributed  18,000  to  Bigler,  9.500  t.> 
Johnston,  and  1.900  to  Qeaver.^  The  Demc<:rats  increased 
their  majorities  in  the  greater  niunber  of  the  counties  which 
they  ordinarily  carried.  It  was  chiefly  in  the  northern 
counties,  comprising  the  area  in  which  the  influence  of  Wil- 
mot  was  strong,  that  the  Democrats  lost  votes.  The  free- 
soil    men    preferred    Johnston    to    Bigler.     In    Lancaster 

vidua!,  Samuel  Williams,  was  tried  for  obstructing  the  enforcement 
of  the  Fugitive  Slave  Law  on  the  ground  that  he  brought  news  of 
the  coming  of  Gorsuch.  A  verdict  of  "not  guilty"  was  rendered;  5 
Clark  (Pa.)  155.  Cf.  a'«o  Public  Ledger,  'anuary  13,  February  6, 
1852. 

^Pittsburgh  Gazette,  September  22,  1851. 

*  S mull's  Legislative  Hand-Book,  1915,  p.  720.  gives  the  returns  Bigler 
(Dem.)  1S6.489;  Johnston  (Whig)  iA034;  Cleaver  (Nat.  Am.)  1.850; 
scattering  67. 


H 

& 
O 


c 
l-l 


o 

E-t 

» 

o 


E- 


a 

a 


1(5 


o 


o 


437]    T^E.  SLAVERY  QUESTION  IN  STATE  POUTICS      191 

county,  where  the  riot  occurred,  and  in  the  nearby  Whig 
counties  of  Chester,  Dauphin,  Delaware,  and  Lebanon,  the 
Whigs  increased  their  majorities.  In  the  nearby  Dem.j- 
cratic  counties  of  Berks,  Bucks,  Montgomery,  and  York, 
the  Democratic  vote  was  increased.  The  returns  in  the 
rural  districts  indicate  that  the  election  had  little  effect  on 
the  customary  party  allegiance.  In  Philadelphia  city  and 
county,  where  the  riot  was  particularly  used  by  the  Demo- 
crats to  depict  the  Whigs  as  a  party  of  lawlessness  and 
where  there  was  fear  that  southern  trade  might  be  lost  if 
the  Fugitive  Slave  Law  was  to  be  thus  nullified,  the  Whigs 
lost  2,200  votes  to  the  Demc-crats  and  to  the  Native 
Americans.  The  improved  condition  of  business  also  cost 
the  Whigs  votes  in  the  counties  where  the  tariff  appeal  luid 
been  efficacious  in  securing  votes  from  the  Democrats.  The 
mining  county  of  Schuylkill,  a  Democratic  region,  which 
in  1846  and  in  1848  had  been  carried  by  the  Whigs  on  the 
tariff  issue,  now  returned  to  the  Democracy.  Johnston's 
majority  of  700  in  1848  was  now  converted  into  a  minority 
of  the  same  amount  in  this  county.  In  the  other  mining 
counties,  which  were  normally  Democratic,  the  majorities 
against  the  Whigs  were  increased. 

The  Democrats  elected  four  of  the  five  judges  of  the 
supreme  court  of  the  state.  The  defe^ited  Democratic  can- 
didate, James  Campl)ell.  lost  by  3,000  votes  to  Richard 
Coulter,  who  received  7,000  less  votes  than  the  lowest  sik:- 
cessful  Democratic  judge.  Giulter  had  been  on  the  l>ench. 
and  after  having  been  refused  a  nomination  by  the  Dem'>- 
crats  had  received  one  from  the  Whigs.  The  Catholicism  i>f 
Campbell  along  with  his  alleged  incompetency  lost  him  4,000 
votes  in  Philadelphia  and  .Mleghaiy  counties  alone.'     The 

'Official  vote  in  the  Public  Ledger,  October  31.  1851.  Campbell  was 
taken  care  of  the  following  year  by  being  appointed  Pos'maslcr-GeiHTal 
bv  Pit-rce. 


1^2  THE  WHIG  PARTY  IN  PENNSYLVANIA  [438 

Democrats  in  carrying  the  state  elected  the  canal  commis- 
sioner, the  auditor-general,  and  the  surveyor-general.  The 
state  senate  would  contain  sixteen  Democrats,  sixteen 
Whigs,  and  one  Native  American;  the  house  would  have 
fifty-five  Democrats,  forty  Whigs,  and  five  Native  Ameri- 
cans. Had  the  Whigs  and  Native  Americans  combined  on 
all  the  candidates  in  Philadelphia,  their  control  of  the  house 
would  have  been  assured.^ 

The  Whig  party  in  the  South  rejoiced  at  the  defeat  of 
Governor  Johnston.^  This  rejoicing  irritated  the  supporters 
of  the  governor  within  the  state.  One  of  them  claimed 
that  the  southern  Whigs  seemed  to  be  demented  on  the 
question  of  slavery,  and  were  apparently  unwilling  to  show 
any  tolerance  for  differences  of  opinion.  "If  such  an 
absurd  course  is  to  be  pursued,  there  is  an  end  of  all  future 
cooperation.  What  hope  can  southern  Whigs  have  of  Penn- 
sylvania hereafter,  when  they  are  loud  in  rejoicing  over  the 
defeat  of  Governor  Johnston,  who  received  the  votes  of 
over  178,000  Whigs!  "  This  rejoicing,  it  was  noted,  was 
not  confined  to  Alabama  and  to  Mississippi,  but  even  the 
Whigs  of  Baltimore  were  claiming  that  the  election  of 
Bigler  was  a  triumph  for  the  national  Whig  administration.' 
This  state  of  internal  bickering  boded  no  good  for  the 
coming  presidential  campaign. 

^Public  Ledger,  October  24,  1851.  One  wing  of  the  Native  Americans 
had  held  a  convention  at  TIarrisburg  on  July  24,  but  this  small  body- 
split  on  the  question  of  the  advisability  of  nominating  state  officers. 
The  seceders  insisted  on  making  nominations  for  governor  and  canal 
commissioner  but  made  none  for  the  supreme  court;  ibid.,  July  29, 
1851.  They  continued  the  fight  against  an  alliance  with  the  Whigs 
in  their  county  convention;  ibid.,  August  12,  1851. 

*Cole,  The  Whig  Party  in  the  South,  p.  226;  message  of  Governor 
Lowe  of  Maryland  on  January  7,  1852;  Maryland  Legislative  Docu- 
ments, 1852,  p.  40. 

8  Pittsburgh  Gazette,  November  13,   1851. 


CHAPTER  VI 
The  Whig  Party  Marks  Time 

1852-1853. 

In  the  organization  of  the  legislature  the  Whigs  secured 
the  speaker  of  the  senate  because  of  the  refusal  of  several 
Democrats  to  vote,  but  the  Democrats  easily  maintained 
control  of  the  house. ^  On  January  8,  1852,  immediately 
after  the  organization  of  the  legislature,  Governor  Johnston 
returned  to  the  senate  the  bill  repealing  the  sixth  section  of 
the  act  of  March  3,  1847.  His  refusal  to  sign  the  bill  had 
been  used  effectively  by  the  Democrats  in  the  last  campaign. 
In  his  veto  message  the  governor  discussed  the  history  of 
the  passage  of  the  act,  contending  that  the  act  was  based 
on  the  interpretation  of  the  Constitution  of  the  United 
States  made  by  the  federal  Supreme  Court.'  The 
senate  could  not  pass  the  measure  over  the  veto  of  the 
governor,  whose  term  was  about  to  expire.  In  his  inaug- 
ural message  of  January  20,  1852,  Governor  Bigler  urged 
the  legislature  to  repeal  the  obnoxious  sections  of  the  act 
of  March  3,  1847,*  and.  in  compliance  with  his  request,,  an 
act  rej)ealing  the  sections,  which  forbade  the  use  of  the 
state  jails  for  the  detention  of  fugitive  slaves,  was  passed.* 
Before  the  passage  of  the  repealing  act.  partly  to  right  an 

'  Public  Ledger,  January  7,  8,  1852. 

2  Pennsyli-ania  Archives,  series  iv,  vol.  vii.  pp.  491,  et  scq. 

3  Ibid.,  series  iv.  vol.  vii,  pp.  519,  et  seq. 
*  Sission  Laws,  1852,  p.  295. 

4391  19.^ 


1^4  T^ii^  WHIG  PARTY  IN  PENNSYLVANIA  [440 

alleged  wrong  and  partly  to  mollify  the  South,  Governor 
Bigler  pardoned  George  Alberti,  who  had  been  convicted  of 
kidnaping  under  the  statute  of  March  3,  1847/ 

The  effect  of  the  defeat  of  the  Whigs  in  1851  was  felt 
in  the  spring  municipal  elections  of  1852.  Tlie  election  of 
a  Democratic  mayor  on  Januar)'  13  in  the  Whig  city  of 
Pittsburgh  led  to  the  warning  that  "  this  abandomnent  of 
Whig  nominees,  by  known  Whigs,  must  stop  here,  or  the 
party  fails  utterly,  for  all  good  ends."  ^  The  defeat  of  the 
Whig  candidate  was  due  to  many  \Miigs  supp<.)rting  Mayor 
Barker,  who  wus  running  for  reelection  on  the  Anti- 
Catholic  ticket.^ 

As  was  the  custom,  the  state  conventions  were  held  in 
March.  The  Democrats,  despite  the  strenuous  opposition 
of  Simon  Cameron,  endorsed  Buchanan  for  the  presidency, 
and  nominated  William  Seabright  for  canal  commissioner,* 
Before  the  election  another  convention  was  necessitated  by 
the  death  of  Seabright.  This  convention  met  on  Sep- 
tember 5  and  nominated  William  Hopkins,  who  had  been 
the  speaker  of  the  successful  house  in  the  Buckshot  War.^ 
The  Whigs  in  their  convention  reaffirmed  their  action  of 
the  year  before  and  endorsed  Scott  for  the  presidency'.  As 
their  candidate  for  canal  commissioner  they  selected  Jacob 
Hoffman.''  The  control  of  the  WTiig  party  within  the  state 
was  not  wrested  from  the  free-soil  element.  On  the  other 
hand,  the  Democrats  did  not  waiver  from  their  opposition  to 
the  free-soil  agitation. 

'^Keystone,  February  10.  1852. 

*  Daily  Commercial  Journal,  January  14,  1852. 
3  Public  Ledger,  Jarmary  15,   1852. 

■•  Jbtd.,  March  5,  6,   1852. 

*  Ibid;  Sei)tember  6,  1852. 
« Ibid.,  March  26,  1852. 


44 1  ]  THE  WHIG  PARTY  MARKS  TIME  195 

It  was  not  in  the  state  but  in  the  national  party  that 
the  breach  in  the  Whig  ranks  assumed  alarming  propor- 
tions. A  caucus  of  the  Whig  Congressmeti,  according  to 
party  custom,  drew  up  and  issued  the  call  for  the  national 
convention.  When  the  caucus  met  this  year,  an  eff(3rt  was 
made  by  the  southern  members  to  have  the  caucus  ass\mie 
the  new  duty  of  deciding  the  "  principles  "  by  which  the 
party  would  be  guided  at  the  coming  election.  The  "  prin- 
ciples "  were  to  be  an  unqualified  endorsement  of  the  com- 
promise measures.  At  the  first  session  of  the  caucus  no 
action  was  taken.  At  a  subsequent  session  the  assumption 
of  the  power  to  declare  "principles"  was  rejected  by  a 
vote  of  46  to  21.  The  vote  was  largely  on  a  sectional 
basis,  although  seven  southerners  voted  against  the  measure 
and  seven  northerners  for  it.  Senator  Cocper  of  Pennsyl- 
vania was  the  only  Whig  from  that  state  who  favored  the 
proposition.  The  opposition  to  the  adoption  of  "  princi- 
ples "  was  led  by  Thaddeus  Stevens  and  by  several  North 
Carolina  Whigs.*  After  their  defeat  in  the  congressional 
caucus,  eleven  of  the  southern  WTiigs  issued  an  address  in 
which  they  pledged  themselves  not  to  support  the  candidate 
of  the  Whig  national  convention  unless  the  Comprc^mises 
of  1850  were  specifically  endorsed.  They  declare<l  them- 
selves ready,  if  necessar)',  to  form  a  new  |>arty.^  In  reply 
to  this  address,  the  Daily  Commercial  Journal  rellected  the 
attitude  of  the  state  Whig  party,  in  saying, 

The  yearly  exactions  and  demands  of  the  South  are  no  longer 
tolerable,  and  our  only  defence  and  substantial  reliance  is,  a 
Northern  Party. 

We  can  elect  Scott  without  the  aid  of  the  South,  and  there 
never  will  be  harmony  and  repose,  in  the  relations  of  the  two 

'  Public  Ledger,  April   12,  21,  ^.  20,   185-2. 
*lbid.,  April  29.  1852. 


196  7"H£  IVHIG  PARTY  IN  PENNSYLVANIA  [442 

wings  of  the  party  until  we  show  these  disorganizers  not  only 
that  we  can  do  without  them,  but  that  wc  mean  to  carry  our 
man  in  spite  of  them. 

There  has  been  always  a  "  Southern  Whig  Party,"  whilst  we 
could  boast  only  of  "A  Whig  Party  of  the  Northern  States." 
The  remedy  for  this  state  of  things  is  a  "  Northern  Whig 
Party,"  and  the  defiant  attitu-de  of  the  Southern  Whigs  sug- 
gests this  as  the  proper  time  for  an  application  of  the  remedy.^ 

The  state  Whigs  were  still  rankling  under  the  gloating  of 
the  southern  Whigs  over  the  defeat  of  Johnston  a  few 
months  before. 

At  a  caucus,  held  the  day  before  the  assembling  of  the 
national  convention  at  Baltimore,  the  southern  Whigs  in- 
timated that  in  return  for  a  resoiution  in  the  convention 
affirming  the  finality  of  the  Compromises  of  1850  they 
would  favor  resolutions  endorsing  a  protective  tariff  and 
the  improvement  of  the  rivers  and  harbors.*  The  conven- 
tion, before  it  balloted  for  a  candidate,  adopted  its  plat- 
form. A  tariff  of  specific  duties  was  endorsed,  and  the 
appropriation  of  money  for  the  improvement  of  rivers  and 
harbors  was  advocated.  The  last  resolution  dealt  with  the 
compromises,  which  were  declared  to  be  "  a  settlement  in 
principle  and  substance  of  the  dangerous  and  exciting  ques- 
tions which  they  embrace,"  and  which  would  be  maintained 
"  as  essential  to  the  nationality  oi  the  Whig  party  and  the 
integrity  of  the  Union."  '  The  free-soil  element  of  Peim- 
sylvania,  controlling  the  delegation  of  the  state,  selected  ex- 
Governor  Johnston  as  the  state  member  of  the  committee 
on  resolutions.     The  vote  of  the  state  delegation  for  tha 

'  May  3,  1852. 

-Public  Ledger,  June  17,  1852;  the  friends  of  Webster,  in  particular, 
were  said  to  favor  these  measures, 
*  Stanwood,  History  of  the  Presidency,  vol.  i,  p.  252. 


443]  ^^£  IVHIG  PARTY  MARKS  TIME  I97 

resolutions  was  twenty-one  in  favor  and  six  in  opposition. 
On  the  fifty-third  ballot  Scott  was  nominated  for  the  pre- 
sidency; he  received  twenty-six  and  Fillmore  one  of  the 
votes  from  the  Pennsylvania  delegates.  The  nomination 
of  William  A.  Graham  of  North  Carolina  for  the  vice- 
presidency  caused  no  struggle.^  The  Whigs  of  the  South, 
not  satisfied  with  the  resolutions,  awaited  Scott's  letter 
of  acceptance  before  taking  further  action.  Its  contents, 
when  published  on  June  24,  did  not  please  them ;  so  on  July 
3  they  issued  a  manifesto  in  which  they  declared  Scott  to 
be  "  the  favorite  candidate  of  the  Free  Soil  wing  of  the 
Whig  party,"  and  they  regarded  it  "as  the  highest  duty  of 
the  well  v^shers  of  the  country  everywhere,  whatever  else 
they  may  do,  to  at  least  withhold  from  him  their  support. 
This  we  intend  to  do."  ^  The  most  ardent  admirers  of 
Scott  in  Pennsylvania,  professing  to  feel  no  alarm  over 
this  manifesto,  declared  that  the  signers  came  from  states 
which  at  best  would  give  Scott  no  support.  "  We  believe," 
declared  one  editor,  "  General  Scott  will  never  feel  the  op- 
position of  these  gentry,  and  we  are  not  sorr>'  that  their 
treason  i-s,  at  length,  fully  unmasked." ' 

Prior  to  the  Whig  convention,  the  Democrats  had  placed 
their  candidates  in  nomination.  Thriaighout  the  balloting 
the  Pennsylvania  delegation  supported  Buchanan ;  but  it 
socm  became  evident  that  neither  he,  nor  Cass,  nor  Douglasi 
could  be  nominated.  On  the  thirty-fourth  ballot  a  few 
votes  were  cast  for  Pierce,  and  on  the  forty-ninth  a  break- 
occurred  in  his  favor  and  he  was  nominated.  The  Buchanan 
supporters  were  somewhat  mollified  by  the  nomination  of 
W^    R.    King,   one  of   Buchanan's   most   intimate    friends,. 

^  PubHc  Ledger,  June  17-22,  1852. 

*Jbid.,  June  jo,  July  8,  1852. 

'Daily  Commercial  Journal,  July  7,  1852. 


1^8  THE  WHIG  PARTY  IS  PENNSYLVANIA  [  ;  ^  ; 

far  the  vnce-presidency/  After  the  nominalicms  were 
known,  the  Whigs  raised  the  cry  "  Who  is  Franklin 
Pierce  ?  "  They  contended  that  Pierce  was  not  to  be  blamed 
for  his  obscurity  but  that  the  Dem<:x:rats  were  to  be  cen- 
sured for  nominating  a  man  of  such  unknown  qualities.^ 

On  July  6  the  Native  America.ns,  who  in  1848  had  Cfx>p- 
erated  with  the  Whigs,  held  a  national  cmveiition  at  Tren- 
ton. They  decided  to  cliange  the  party  name  from  "  Native 
American  "  to  "  .American."  Daniel  Webster  and  George 
C.  Washington  were  placed  before  the  public  as  their 
nominees.^  Strong  (fbjections  were  made  to  these  nomi- 
nations particularly  by  the  anti-Levin  branch  of  the  party.* 
The  failing  health  of  Webster  remrwcd  him  as  a  po.>sil>ility, 
so  in  the  election  the  Native  Americans  voted  for  Jacob 
Broom  of  Philadelphia  and  Reyncll  Coates  of  New  Jersey, 
who  were  placed  in  n  ;mination  by  the  executive  committee 
after  the  death  of  Webster  and  the  declination  of  Washing- 
ton.^ In  the  Philadelphia  distriots  and  in  four  other  di.s- 
tricts  of  the  state,  the  Native  Americans  ran  congressional 
candidates.^ 

In  August  there  assembled  at  Pittsburgh  the  national  ci in- 
vention of  the  Free  Soil  Democracy.  The  convention 
nominated  John  P.  Hale  and  George  W.  Julian.  Prior  to 
the  national  convention,  there  had  been  a  .state  mass  con- 
vention of  the  "  friends  of   freedom  "  to  prepare  for  the 

'  Public  Ledger,  June  2-7,  1852. 

''Daily  Commercial  Journal,  Jiinc  28,  l8>i. 

^Public  Ledger,  ]\x\y  7,  1852.  In  order  to  avoid  confusing  them  with 
the  Know-Nothings  or  Americans  they  will  l>e  referred  to  by  their 
older  designation. 

*  letter  of  Peter  Sken  Smith  in  ibid.,  Augu.st  .-50,   i8.!U. 

^Ibid.,  October  30,  1852;  C  O.  Paullin.  "The  National  Ticket  of 
Broom  and  Coate-s,  1852."  in  7"/t^  American  Historical  Review,  vol. 
XXV,  pp.  689-691,  July,  1920. 

•^  Public  Ledger  October  12,  1852. 


445]  ^^^  WHIG  PARTY  MARKS  TIME  199 

national  convention.  At  one  of  its  later  meetings  the  state 
convention  nominated  a  state  ticket/  The  convention  re- 
commended that  congressional  candidates  be  run  in  each 
district,  but  only  in  the  three  districts  at  the  headwaters  of 
the  Ohio  was  this  done  in  Pennsylvania.  The  vote  of  the 
party  in  the  state  was  much  smaller  than  in  1848,  parti- 
cularly in  Wilmot's  district.^  In  the  Whig  counties  it  suc- 
ceeded in  retaining  its  small  following. 

The  Whigs  raised  the  question  of  the  tariff  as  the  big 
issue  of  the  campaign,  but  met  with  little  success.'  The 
Whig  cry  for  Pennsylvania  was  said  to  be  "  Scott,  Graham 
and  a  Tariff  with  specific  Duties."  *  The  stressing  of  the 
deceit  of  the  Democracy  in  1844  had  tio  practical  effect.' 
In  both  parties  there  was  an  apathy  towards  the  campaign 
which  had  not  been  in  evidence  in  preceding  presidential 
elections.     The  Public  Ledger,  an  independent  paper,  said, 

We  see  here  and  there,  especially  in  the  great  cities,  almost 
daily  attempts  to  hold  "  mass  meetings."  But  though  these 
meetings  are  crowded  to  suffocation  in  the  newspapers,  very 

^  F lib  lie  Ledger,  .August   11-14,   1852. 

'  Wilinot  realized  that  the  Whig  party  is  "  now  substantially  a  Free 
Soil  party  and  would  resist  any  further  aggression  of  the  slave 
power;  but  if  they  succeed  in  electing  a  president  they  would  be 
pro-slavery,  as  is  the  Democratic  party.  So  long  as  they  are  out  they 
will  be  an  anti-slavery  party.  .  .  .  There  will  be  an  organized  political 
nucleus  for  the  Free-Soil  elements  of  the  free  States  to  fall  back 
upon  in  this  contest.  We  Free-Soilers  of  the  northern  counties  will 
therefore  probably  vote  for  Pierce  in  this  election,  not  because  we 
believe  in  him,  but  because  in  our  judgment  it  is  the  wisest  course  to 
prepare  for  the  conflict  which  must  come  upon  the  extension  of 
slavery  in  this  country."  Quoted  in  DuBois  and  Matthews,  Galusho. 
A.  Grotv,  p.  94. 

*  Daily  Commercial  Journal,  July  21,  23,  24,  .Vugust  4;  Public 
Ledger,   .September  2,    1852. 

*  Daily  Commercial  Journal,  June  26,  1852. 

*  Ibid.,  .\ugnst  27.   1852. 


200  THE  WHIG  PARTY  IN  PENNSYLVANIA  [4^5 

few  attend  them  bodily.  They  seem  to  think  that  a  meta- 
phorical attendance  will  do  as  well  for  the  cause,  whatever 
it  be,  and  much  better  for  themselves.^ 

On  October  12  the  state  elections  were  held  with  the 
Democrats  receiving  twenty  thousand  more  votes  than 
the  Whigs.'  The  legislature  would  be  divided  in  control 
due  to  hold-overs  in  the  senate  which  would  contain 
seventeen  Whigs,  fifteen  Democrats,  and  one  Native 
American;  the  house  would  be  made  up  of  sixty-two  De- 
mocrats and  thirty-eight  Whigs.  The  Democrats  elected 
sixteen  of  the  twenty-five  Congressmen  and  the  Whigs  nine. 
If  the  Whigs  and  Native  Americans  had  combined  in  three 
of  the  Philadelphia  districts,  the  fusion  candidates  would 
have  been  elected.  In  the  Beaver-Lawrence-Mercer  dis- 
trict in  western  Pennsylvania  the  Whig  candidate  for  Con- 
gress was  defeated  because  of  the  large  number  of  vote3 
cast  for  the  Free  Soil  nominee.^ 

The  Whigs  claimed  that  their  defeat  in  the  state  election 
was  due  to  the  "  stay-at-home  "  v(3te.  In  the  presidential 
election,  tliey  affinned,  they  would  be  successful,  if  they 
could  induce  these  men  to  go  to  the  polls.     Increased  votes 

'  September  9,  1852. 

•The  official  returns  for  canal  commissioner  are  given  in  the  Public 
Ledger,  October  28,  1852;  Hopkins  (Dem.)  171,551;  Hoffman  (Whig) 
151,601;  Wyman  (Free  Soil)  3,843;  McDonald  (Nat.  Am.)  8,187. 
Judge  Coulter  of  the  state  supreme  court  had  died  in  April.  George 
Woodward  had  been  appointed  to  fill  the  vacancy.  Later  he  was 
nominated  by  the  Democrats  and  defeated  Joseph  Buffington,  the 
Whig  nominee,  by  172,619  to  153,715. 

'Jbid.,  October  16,  1852;  the  beginning  of  a  reaction  against  the 
control  of  the  free-soil  t-lcmcnt  is  seen  in  the  Whig  party,  particularly 
in  Lancaster  county.  The  "  Silver  Greys "  succeeded  in  ousting  the 
"  Wooly  Heads";  they  nominated  Isaac  Hiestcr  for  Congress.  Stevens' 
activity  as  counsel  for  the  defense  in  the  trial  of  the  Christiana 
rioters  helped  in  his  overthrow  from  leadership;  ibid.,  August  23, 
October  11,   1852. 


447]  ^^£  WHIG  PARTY  .\fARKS  TIME  201 

had  been  secured  in  1840  and  in  1848  by  party  activity  and 
the  elections  had  been  won.  What  was  to  prevent  the  same 
result  from  being  attained  now?  ^  The  introduction  of  the 
temperance  question  in  some  of  the  local  elections  had 
worked  to  the  disadvantage  of  the  Whigs,  who  were  always 
affected  by  the  introduction  of  these  extraneous  issues.^  In 
the  presidential  campaign  the  Democrats  made  free  use  of 
the  attacks  on  Scott  by  the  southern  Whigs.^  In  a  speech 
at  Greensburg  Buchanan  devoted  himself  to  the  question  of 
the  advisability  of  raising  the  commanding  general  of  the 
army  to  the  presidency.  The  views  of  Scott,  as  given  in  a 
letter  of  October  25,  1841,  were  criticized  as  showing  hisi 
incompetency.*  The  course  of  the  Whigs  in  endorsing 
Governor  Johnston's  withholding  his  signature  to  the 
bill  repealing  the  act  of  March  3,  1847,  was  condemned.* 
The  Democrats  by  these  criticisms  made  the  Whigs  abandon 
the  issue  of  the  tariff  of  1846  as  the  main  question  and 
forced  them  to  reply  to  their  attacks. 

The  election  was  carried  by  Pierce  with  a  majority  of 

i Daily  Commercial  Journal,  October  15,  1852;  address  of  the  Alle- 
gheny County  Scott  Club,  ibid.,  October  22,  1852L 

'Ibid.,  October  13,  16,  1852. 

•The  pamphlet,  IVhig  Testimony  against  General  Scott,  was  widely 
circulated. 

*  Moore,  Works  of  James  Buchanan,  vol.  viii,  pp.  460,  et  seq-  Thia 
letter  of  Scott  had  been  sent  by  him  to  various  Whij;  leaders  in  the 
North  after  the  party  broke  with  Tyler;  copies  in  the  Ewing  Papers 
and  in  the  .McLean  Papers,  Lib.  of  Cong.  .\t  the  same  time,  Scott 
was  actively  corresponding  with  Thaddeus  Stevens,  who  wa<;  hopingf 
to  restore  the  .\nti-Masons  to  power  under  the  possible  leadership 
of  Scott;  letters  of  Stevens  to  Scott,  October  20,  1841,  February  15, 
1&43,  of  Scott  to  Stevens,  November  i,  4,  21,  1841,  May  5.  -August  2. 
1842;  Stevens  Papers,  Lib.  of  Cong. 

"Daily  Commercial  Journal,  October  4;  Public  Ledger,  October  8, 
1852. 


202  2"^^£  ^HIG  PARTY  IS  PENNSYLVANIA  [448 

9,000  votes  over  his  three  opponents  within  the  state.' 
Ujx)n  the  defeat  of  Scott,  the  Daily  C ommcrdal  Journal 
remarked, 

F'or  the  sake  of  conciliating  the  South,  tlie  Whigs  of  the 
North  admitted  into  their  platform  of  principles  an  element 
which  was  distasteful  to  the  mass  of  the  Whigs  of  the  North, 
and,  as  the  sequel  has  shown,  lost  to  the  cause  northern  Whig 
States.  The  South  was  imperative  in  exacting  the  admission 
of  this  element  of  discord ;  and  after  securing  its  admission, 
the  States  of  the  South — the  Whig  States — have  refused  to 
sustain  either  platform  or  candidate,  and  we  are  covered  with 
defeat.  This  is  the  point  of  difficulty,  in  submitting  with  good 
grace  and  comfortable  temper,  to  the  defeat  of  Scott  and 
Grahani. 

For  our  own  part,  patience  and  our  capacity  of  endurance 
have  been  wholly  exhausted  in  the  labor  of  standing  by  the 
South,  to  witness  the  South  stand  by  and  succor  and  give 
victory  to  our  opponents.     We  will  no  more  of  it.* 

The  statements  of  R.  M.  Riddle,  editor  of  the  paper,  that 
the  party  ought  to  be  dissolved  did  not  meet  with  hearty 
approval  even  in  the  western  part  of  the  state.  One  of  the 
leading  W^higs  of  Butler  county  t(X>k  issue  with  him  and 
maintained  that  it  was  necessary  for  the  Whigs  to  hold 
to  their  old  policies.^  Judge  II.  M.  Brackenridge  of  Alle- 
gheny comity  felt  that  the  North  and  not  the  South  was  to 
blame  fc^r  the  estrangement  between  the  two  sections.  The 
abolitionists  and  the  free-soilers  were  the  ones  who  were 
threatening  to  break  up  the  Whig  party.     This  was  shown 

^  SmuU's  Legislative  Hand-Book,  191Q,  p.  715,  gives  the  returns  as 
Pierce  (Dem.)  198,562;  Scott  (Whig)  179,104;  Hale  (Free  Soil  Dem.) 
8,495;  Broom  (Native  American)    1,678. 

'  November  4,  1852. 

'  Letter  of  Samuel  A.  Purviance  to  R.  M.  Riddle,  November  15.  1852; 
Daily  Commercial  Journal,  November  22,  1852. 


s 


m 

0 

^ 

1 

n 

1 

<u 

c^ 

3 

OA 

t 

cr 

0 

1) 

3 

-     _ 

^7- 

I. 

L^ 

0 

>. 

/ 

^^ 

/^\ 

>       ^ "      — 

-13 

/ 

f^ 

R) 

/ 

C^ 

k             s 

f 

U 

/ 

r\i 

^K     «      ^■'^ 

\\ 

cQ 

/ 

^ 

Asd/^ 

t\ 

449]  7'i/£  IVHIG  PARTY  MARKS  TIME  203 

by  tlie  fact  that  the  South  had  favored  a  protective  tariff 
before  the  passage  of  the  Missouri  Compromise  Act;  with 
the  passage  of  this  act  had  begun  the  agitation  against 
slavery  with  the  resuhant  objection  of  the  South  to  a  pro- 
tective tariff.*  William  D.  Le\vis.  a  leader  of  the  free^ 
soil  wing  in  Philadelphia,  wrote  after  the  election, 

We  are  told  in  the  good  book  that  "  whom  the  Lord  loveth 
he  chasteneth,"  which  of  course  it  would  be  impiety  to  doubt. 
It  is  clear  then  that  the  Whig  party  must  stand  high  in  his 
favor,  for  he  has  recently  given  it  such  a  chastening  as  I  hope 
he  may  deem  sufficient  to  purify  its  rebellious  blood  for  all  time.- 

After  the  elections  the  discouragement  and  despair  of 
the  Whigs  was  pronounced  and  profound.  A  ray  of  light 
pierced  the  darkness  when  the  Pittsburgh  Whigs  defeated 
the  Democratic  ma>x)r  who  was  up  for  reelection.^  What- 
ever doubt  existed  as  to  the  continued  existence  of  the 
Whig  party  was  removed  when  the  Whig  state  central 
committee,  meeting  at  Harrislmrg  on  February  16,  issued 
a  call  for  a  state  conventiv>n  to  meet  at  Lancaster  in  March.* 
The  most  significant  act  of  the  convention  was  the  appoint- 
ment of  a  large  central  committee  of  fifty-five,  which  in- 
dicated a  determined  effort  to  effect  a  thoroughgoing  re- 
^^vif^cation  of  the  state  Whig  party."  ITie  .spirit  shown 
at  the  convention  soon  slumpeil.  At  another  state  con- 
vention, meeting  in  Augu.st  at  Huntingdon,    for  the  pur- 

'  Letter  to  R.  M.  Riddle ;  ibid.,  November  22,  1852. 

=  Letter  of  November  13,  1852,  to  J.  M.  Clayton;  Qayton  Papers. 
Lib.  of  Cong. 

3  Daily  Commercial  Journal.  December  30,  1852,  January  10,  12,  1853. 
The  .An ti -Catholic  party  had  disappeared  and  so  there  was  nothing 
to  divert  Wliig  votes  away  from  their  candidate,  R.  M.  Riddle. 

*  f Pennsylvania  Telegraph,  February  19,   1853. 

''Ibid.,  March  26,  June  i;  Daily  Sews,  May  14.  1853. 


204  ^^^  WHIG  PARTY  IN  PENNSYLVANIA  [450 

pose  of  nominating  a  candidate  to  succeed  Judge  Gibson 
on  the  supreme  court,  only  a  few  counties  were  represented.^ 
This  lack  of  interest  and  this  apathy  continued  throughout 
the  campaign  of  1853.^  ^^  could  be  attributed  in  part  to  the 
fact  that  only  minor  officers  were  to  be  elected,  but  the  in- 
difference, more  pronounced  than  usual,  indicated  party 
disintegration.  Nevertheless,  an  assertion  by  Horace  Gree- 
ley that  the  Whig  party  was  dead  was  vigorously  denied.' 
Elections  in  Tennessee,  Kentucky,  and  other  southern  states 
were  taken  as  denials  of  his  claim.* 

Without  success  the  Whigs  endeavored  to  raise  an  issue 
on  the  question  of  the  sale  of  the  public  works.  They  had 
been  characterized  by  a  leading  Democrat  as  "a  lazarre 
house  of  corruption  "  and  by  a  Whig  as  "  an  infirmary  for 
broken  down  politicians."  *  This  question  had  been  lightly 
touched  upon  in  the  first  Whig  convention,  but  was 
stressed  in  the  second.'  The  Democrats,  however,  did  not 
oppose  the  demand  for  the  sale  of  the  public  works,  and, 
consequently,  there  could  be  no  issue  raised  on  this  ques- 
tion.'    Although  the  Whigs  were  insisting  on  the  sale  of 

«  Pennsylvania  Telegraph,  August  3,  31.  1853. 

*  Ibid.,  October  19,  1853. 

*  Daily  Nezvs,  \Lay  20,  26,  1853. 

*  Evening  Bulletin,  August  15,  1853. 

*  Pennsylvania  Telegraphy  April  9,  1853. 

*  Ibid.,  August  31,  1853. 

'  The  following  year  the  act  of  April  27,  1854,  authorized  the  offering 
at  auction  of  the  main  line  of  the  public  works ;  but  no  bids  were 
received.  On  December  20,  1855,  the  Pennsylvania  Railroad  Company 
made  an  offer  for  the  main  line.  Under  the  authority  of  the  act  of 
May  16,  1857,  which,  in  the  main,  followed  the  offer  of  the  Pennsyl- 
vania Railroad  Company,  an  auction  was  held  on  Tune  25.  1857.  at 
which  the  main  line  was  purchased  by  the  railroad.  The  lateral 
canals  were  sold  under  authority  of  the  act  of  -A.pril  21,  1858.  This 
ended  state  ownership  of  internal  improvements  other  than  roads. 
Bishop,  "  State  Works  of  Pennsylvania,"  in  Transactions  of  the  Con^ 
ncct:cut  Academy  of  Arts  and  Sciences,  vol.  xiii,  pp.  254.  et  seq. 


45 1  ]  THE  WHIG  PARTY  MARKS  TIME  205 

the  public  works  as  a  means  of  relieving  the  state  from  its 
tremendous  financial  burden,  which  had  been  incurred 
through  the  construction  of  these  works,  yet  they  tried  to 
get  support  in  certain  sections  of  the  state  because  they  had 
favored  local  extensions.^  The  beginning  of  a  demand  that 
the  tonnage  tax  on  freight  hauled  by  the  Pennsylvania 
Railroad  be  repealed  was  heard.' 

The  campaign  became  complicated  by  the  appearance  of 
many  local  issues.  For  a  time  the  question  of  a  loan  of 
two  million  dollars  by  Philadelphia  county  to  the  Sunbury 
and  Erie  Railroad  threatened  to  become  an  issue  in  Phila- 
delphia,' but  attention  was  soon  diverted  to  the  movement 
for  the  consolidation  of  Philadelphia  city  and  county.  Al- 
though both  the  Whig  and  the  Democratic  county  conven- 
tions declared  for  consolidation,  yet  a  ticket  was  formed 
from  the  nominees  of  both  parties,  who  were  known  to  be 
particularly  favorable  to  consolidation.  As  was  usual  under 
such  circumstances,  the  result  favored  the  Democrats.*  In 
many  of  the  counties  the  temperance  question  assumed  such 
large  proportions  as  to  be  alarming  to  the  old  parties.  The 
Whigs  generally  endorsed  candidates,  who  were  pledged 

'  Pennsylvania  Telegraph,  September  28,  1853, 

*  Daily  News,  March  16,  1853. 

^  The  city  councils  had  made  provision  for  a  loan  of  two  million  dol- 
lars, but  since  the  conditions  had  not  been  met  by  the  railroad,  the  loan 
had  not  been  made.  The  contemplated  loan  hy  the  county  was  to  take  the 
place  of  the  loan  by  the  city,  which  eventually  made  the  loan  and 
thereby  quieted  the  agitation  over  the  question  of  the  legality  of  the 
loan  by  the  county.  The  city  had  previously  subscribed  four  million 
dollars  to  the  Pennsylvania  Railroad,  one  half  million  to  the  Hemp- 
field  Railroad,  and  one  half  million  to  the  F.aston  and  Water  Gap 
Railroad.  Evening  Bulletin,  March  4,  7,  8,  11,  14,  1853;  January  9. 
1854. 

*  Daily  News,  September  30,  October  17;  Public  Ledger,  Octol)er  15; 
Evening  Bulletin,  October  15.  1853. 


2o6  T'/ZE  WHIG  PARTY  IN  PENNSYLVANIA  [^32. 

to  the  refonn.  If  they  failed  to  do  this,  an  indq>eiideTit 
nomination  would  be  made  by  the  reformers.  As  a  result 
of  the  injection  of  this  question  into  coimty  politics,  the 
Democrats  secured  ten  members  of  the  l(jwer  house  and 
two  in  the  upper  from  what  were  ordinarily  Whig  dis- 
tricts.' 

The  election  of  1853  resulted  in  an  easy  victory  for  the 
Democrats.  No  issue  of  either  state  or  national  significance 
was  involved  and  the  election  was  based  on  party  solidarity. 
In  fact,  the  Whig  party  was  politically  bankrupt.  Even 
though  the  anti- free-soil  branch  of  the  state  Whig  party 
admitted  that  the  old  issues  had  been  settled,  yet  they  in- 
sisted that  there  was  need  of  it  since  "  the  distinctive  prin- 
ciple or  feature  of  the  Whig  party  is  what  it  has  ever  been, 
a  coiiservative  opposition  to  the  rank  radicalism  and  Jacob- 
inism which  has  ever  been  a  distinguishing  feature  of  Loco- 
focoism."  '  Others  of  the  Whig  party  hailed  the  defeat 
as  a  good  omen,  claiming  that  it  f>ortended  the  disappear- 
ance of  partizanship,  because  all  the  old  questions  had  been 
settled.  One  of  them  declared  that  "  no  cohesive  principle 
exists  any  longer  between  partizans,  except  the  memory  of 
past  animosities  and  the  prospect  of  future  s^xrils."  ^  Al- 
though the  apparent  collapse  of  the  Whig  party  was  noted, 
yet  no  such  similar  breakup  of  the  Democratic  party  was 
evidenced  to  cheer  the  Whigs.     The  passage  of  the  con- 

»  Daily  News,  October  21 ;  Peiuisyh'onui  Telegraph,  October  19,  Nov- 
ember 16;  Westmorelan-d  Intelligencer,  October  20,  1853.  The  Whigs 
now  lost  control  of  the  senate,  which  contained  18  Democrats,  14 
Whigs,  and  i  Native  American ;  the  house  contained  71  Democrats, 
25  Whigs,  and  4  Native  Americans;  Pennsykania  Telegraph,  No- 
vember 2,  1853.  The  vote  for  canal  commissioner  v.  as  Forsyth  (Dem.) 
152,867,  Pownall  (Whig)  117,937;  Morgan  (Native  American)  7,764; 
Mitchell   (Free  Soil)   3,579;  Public  Ledger,  October  27,  1853. 

'^  Daily  News,  October  25,   1853. 

*  Evening  Bulletin,  October  15,   1853. 


453]  T^^^  IVHIG  PARTY  MARKS  TIME  207 

solidation  act,  signed  by  the  governor  on  Fcbraary  2,  1854, 
brought  the  question  of  the  reorganization  of  the  Whig 
party  to  the  fore,  at  least  so  far  as  Philadelphia  city  and 
county  were  concerned.^ 

^Session  Laws,  1854.  p.  21;  Daily  Xews,  January  12,  18,  February  4, 
1854. 


CHAPTER  VII 
The  Disappearance  of  the  Whig  Party 

1854-1856. 

In  the  early  part  of  1854  there  was  a  recrudescence  of 
anti-Catholic  sentiment,  which  was  closely  associated  with 
intense  hatred  of  foreigners.  Heretofore,  candidates  in 
local  elections  had  been  defeated  by  an  appeal  to  religious 
prejudices,  but  now  the  agitation  was  to  assume  state- wide 
proportions.  In  the  past  few  years  there  had  l^een  a  number 
of  causes  to  increase  the  fear  felt  because  of  the  alarming" 
number  of  immigrants.  In  the  election  of  1852  assertions 
were  made  that  the  Democrats  put  up  placards  urging  the 
Catholics  to  vote  for  Scott,  with  the  anticipated  result  that 
many  Protestants,  generally  Whigs  and  native-born,  had 
rejected  him  but  no  foreign-  or  native-born  Catholics  had 
been  attracted  to  him.^  The  opposition,  partly  anti-Catho- 
lic, which  had  prevented  the  elevation  of  Campbell  to  the 
supreme  court  of  the  state,  was  deeply  offended  when  Pierce 
made  him  Postmaster-General.*  The  tour  of  Bedini,  the 
nuncio  of  the  Pope,  in  the  latter  part  of  1853  and  in  the  be- 
ginning of  1854,  led  to  rioting  in  various  cities  of  the  United 
States.  The  anti-Catholic  element  occasionallv  condemned 
the  rioters,  but  universally  condemned  the  nuncio  as  the 
cause  of  the  disorder.  In  order  not  to  offend  their  sup- 
porters of  German  ancestry,  the  Whigs  declared  that  it  was 

•  Pennsylvania  Telegraph,  November  10,  17,  1852. 

^Public  Ledger,  January  4;  Evening  Bulletin,  March  8,  1853. 
208  (454 


455]     -^^^  DISAPPEARANCE  OF  THE  WHIG  PARTY       209 

only  the  Irish  Catholics  who  did  not  condemn  Bedini.^ 
This  anti-Catholic  sentiment,  sedulously  aroused  this  year 
by  the  Whigs,  was  to  prove  of  temporaiy  advantage  but  of 
ultimate  discomfiture  to  them. 

The  four  parties  within  the  state  in  their  conventions! 
made  nominations  for  the  elections,  which  were  of  import- 
ance as  a  governor  was  to  be  chosen.  As  usual,  the  struggle 
would  lie  between  the  Whigs  and  the  Democrats,  although 
the  Native  American  nominations  would  draw  some  votes 
away  from  the  Whigs  and  the  nomination  of  David  Wilmot 
as  the  gubernatorial  candidate  O'f  the  Free  Soil  Democracy 
would  harm  the  orthodox  Democracy.  The  Whigs,  led  by 
the  free-soil  element  of  their  party,  placed  James  Pollock, 
of  Northimiberland  county,  in  nomination  for  the  gover- 
norship; the  Democrats  nominated  Governor  Bigler  for  re- 
election. The  Whig  candidate  stood  in  many  wavs  in 
sharp  contrast  to  the  Democratic  nominee.  Pollock,  pre- 
sident judge  of  the  eighth  district,  had  been  graduated 
from  Princeton  with  the  highest  honors;  Bigler  had  a 
meager  common-school  education.  Pollock  had  served 
three  terms  in  Congress,  representing  a  nomially  Demo- 
cratic district ;  Bigler  had  held  none  but  state  offices.  Pol- 
lock was  born  of  native  American  parents  of  Scotch-Irish 
descent;  Bigler's  parents  were  of  German  descent.  Con- 
sequently, as  the  Know  Nothing  movement  developed,  its 
adherents  supported  Pollock  rather  than  Bigler. 

The  consideration  of  the  Kansas-Nebraska  Bill  by  Con- 
gress raised  an  issue  which  was  eagerly  seized  by  the 
Whigs.^     Their  state  convention,  on  March  15. 

Resolved,  that  those  provisions  of  the  Kansas  and  Nebraska 

^Evening  Bulletin,  February  2,  13,  15.  1854. 

'^  Daily   Netvs,    January   30,    February    17;    Pennsylvania    Telegraph, 
February  17,  1854. 


2IO  THE  WHIG  PARTY  IN  PENNSYLVANIA  [4^5 

Bill  now  before  Congress,  which  affect  and  repeal  the  Missouri 
Compromise,  are  a  deliberate  breach  of  plighted  faith  and 
public  compact,  a  high-handed  attempt  to  force  slavery  into 
a  vast  territory  now  free  from  it  by  law,  a  reckless  renewing  of 
a  quieted  agitation,  and  therefore  meet  the  stern,  indignant  and 
unanimous  condemnation  of  the  Whig  party/ 

This  question  was  vigorously  pressed  and  suggestions  were 
made  that  Pollock  withdraw  in  favor  of  Wilmot,  but  the 
proposition  was  promptly  rejected.^  Pollock,  in  reply  to  a 
letter  from  opponents  of  the  Kansas-Nebraska  Bill,  placed 
himself  in  their  ranks. ^  The  letter  attracted  the  leaders 
of  the  Free  Soil  Democracy,  who'  opened  a  correspondence 
with  him.  The  result  was  the  withdrawal  of  the  nomina- 
tion of  Wilmot  and  the  pledging  of  their  support  to  Pollock.* 
This  act  was  significant,  indicating  the  coalescing  of  free- 
soil  sentiment  into  one  party.  Wilmot  had  in  1848  bolted 
the  regular  Democratic  organization  and  had  supported 
Van  Buren.  In  185 1  he  had  supported  Bigler  and  in  1852 
Pierce,  not  because  he  favored  them,  but  because  he  feared 
that,  if  the  Whig  party  came  into  power,  it  would  cease  to  be 
free-soil.  He  was  preparing  for  the  dissolution  of  the 
Whig  party  on  the  slavery  question.  The  accession  of  Wil- 
mot to  the  support  of  Pollock  startled  many  of  the  Whigs, 

^Pennsylvania  Telegraph,  March  18,  1854.  The  Whig  press  was 
almost  unanimous  in  condemning  the  measure.  Even  the  Daily  News, 
February  17,  1854,  which  in  1850  had  condemned  Governor  Johnston 
for  not  endorsing  the  compromises  of  that  year,  declared  itself 
emphatically  against  the  repeal  of  the  compromises  of  1820.  It; 
asserted  that  if  those  of  1820  were  not  binding,  neither  were  those 
of  1850,  and  that  "  the  real  friends  of  the  measures  of  1850  will  be 
the  first  to  sound  the  tocsin  for  their  repeal." 

^  Daily  News,  April  22;  Pennsylvania  Telegraph,  April  29,  1854. 

*  Pennsylvania  Archives,  series  iv,  vol.  vii,  p.  784,  for  letter  of  June 
19,   1854. 

*  Westmoreland  Intelligencer,  September  7,  1854. 


457]     THE  DISAPPEARANCE  OF  THE  WHIG  PARTY       2II 

who,  recalling  Wilmot's  vote  in  favor  of  the  Tariff  Act  of 
1846,  declared  that  they  wanted  no  fusion  with  free  traders/ 
The  tariff  could  not,  however,  be  raised  as  an  issue,  and 
emphasis  during  the  campaign  was  placed  on  the  Kansas- 
Nebraska  measure.  The  Whig  state  central  committee, 
imder  the  leadership  of  A.  G.  Curtin,  declared  that  "  never, 
in  the  history  of  Pennsylvania,  was  there  a  clearer  and 
stronger  line  drawn — never  a  more  distinct  definition  of 
principle."  ^  Bigler,  however,  even  after  his  recovery  from 
an  illness  which  prevented  him  from  being  active  in  the 
early  days  of  the  campaign,  refused  to  discuss  the  slavery 
question.^  In  its  final  address,  issued  on  October  5,  the 
Whig  state  central  committee,  referring  to  this  attitude  on 
the  part  of  the  Democratic  candidate,  said,  "  The  Nebraska 
question/ — the  great  issue  between  the  propagandists  of, 
slavery  and  the  defenders  of  human  liberty — is  ignored."  * 
In  addition  to  the  support  of  the  abolitionists.  Pollock  was 
assured  the  support  of  another  reform  element  within  the 
state.  The  electors  were  to  vote  on  the  question  of  whether 
the  state  ought  to  adopt  a  stringent  liquor  law.  The  reply 
of  Bigler  to  an  inquir}-  was  considered  inadequate,  while 
the  answer  of  Pollock  was  deemed  satisfactory;  conse- 
quently Pollock  was  endorsed. ° 

The  opposition  to  the  Catholics  and  to  the  foreign-bom 
was  taking  definite  shape  in  the  organization  of  secret  poli- 
tical societies.  This  was  an  independent  movement  and 
was  not  connected  with  the  remnant  of  the  former  Native 
American  organization.     Tn  Philadelphia  a  celebration  be- 

^  Daily  News,  August  25,  1854. 
^Ibid.,  July  20,  1854- 

*  Evening  Bulletin,  October  7,  1854.  ~ 

*  Daily  News,  October  9,  1854. 
^Pennsylvania  Archives,  series  iv,  vol.  vii.  p.  783. 


212  THE  WHIG  PARTY  IN  PENNSYLVANIA  [458 

cause  of  the  consolidation  of  the  city  and  county,  planned 
for  Washington's  birthday,  1854,  was  postponed  until  March 
10.  In  the  parade  were  a  large  number  of  "American" 
organizations,  composed  of  native-born  citizens,  who  had 
"  organized  within  a  few  years."  Several  delegations 
of  "  Know  Nothings,"  as  they  were  called  because  of 
their  ostentatious  reticence,  were  in  line/  That  these  new 
organizations  were  working  in  secret  for  political  power  and 
that  they  w^ere  rapidly  developing  strength  was  shown  in  a 
non-partisan  election  for  school  directors  in  Lancaster  city 
on  May  3.  Two  men,  not  avowed  candidates,  received  sixl 
hundred  votes,  while  the  two  defeated  candidates,  who  were 
Catholics,  received  only  sixty  votes. ^  A  still  more  import 
tant  indication  of  the  strength  of  the  movement  was  given 
in  the  election  for  mayor  of  the  enlarged  city  of  Philadel- 
phia on  June  6.  In  this  election  Robert  T.  Conrad  and  a 
preponderantly  Whig  council  with  other  Whig  officials  were 
elected  by  the  votes  of  the  Know  Nothings,  receiving  a 
majority  of  more  than  eighty-five  hundred.^  "  This  earth- 
quake shake."  wrote  a  Democrat  to  Buchanan,  "  alarms  us 
in  the  fate  of  Governor  Bigler."  * 

1  Evening  Bulletin,  March  10,  1854. 

^Inland  Daily,  May  9;  Pennsylvania  Telegraph,  May  10,  1854;  Judge 
A.  L.  Hayes  to  Buchanan,  May  8,  1854,  Buchanan  Mss. 

3  Daily  News,  June  8,  1854;  in  its  issue  of  May  31,  1854,  this  journal 
contended  that  the  Germans  were  going"  with  the  Democracy  and  had 
made  the  contest  one  of  "Lager  Beer  and  Vaux  versus  Temperance 
and  Conrad."  The  Evening  Bulletin,  June  7,  1854.  claimed  that  the 
election  was  a  rebuke  of  the  state  and  of  the  national  administrations 
for  having  taken  up  Campbell.  "  The  weakness  on  foreign  questions, 
the  bullying  on  home  questions,  the  indecencies  of  the  Nebraska 
legislation,  the  base  resort  to  all  sorts  of  demagogue  tricks,  the  traffic 
in  offices  to  secure  votes,  the  filibustering  inclinations  and  the  general 
unfitness  for  the  control  of  a  great  nation "  have  all  contributed  to 
the  merited  defeat. 

<  Daniel  T.  Jenks,  June  9,  1854;  Buchanan  Mss. 


459]     THE  DISAPPEARANCE  OF  THE  WHIG  PARTY       213 

The  Democrats  sharply  attacked  the  Whigs  for  organiz- 
ing the  Know  Nothings,  whose  principles,  particularly  of 
religious  intolerance,  were  shown  to  be  contrary  to  those  of 
the  founder  of  the  commonwealth.  Pollock,  they  declared, 
had  been  initiated  into  the  order  and  full  details  of  the  cere- 
mony were  printed/  To  show  the  inconsistency  of  the 
movement,  assertions  were  made  that  Thaddeus  Stevens, 
leader  of  the  former  i\nti-Masons,  had  taken  the  oath  of 
secrecy  and  had  been  duly  inducted  into  the  mysteries  of 
the  society."  To  the  attacks  of  the  Democrats  the  sup- 
porters of  the  movement  replied  that  the  Jesuits,  a  Catholic 
organization,  had  been  the  originators  of  secret  religious 
societies  with  a  political  purpose.^  The  omnipresence  of  re- 
presentatives of  the  "  Most  Holy  Order  of  Jesus "  was 
vividly  depicted  for  the  doubtful.  According  to  one 
journal, 

The  help  in  your  kitchen,  and  the  girl  in  your  nursery,  are 
Jesuits.  The  fellow  who  blacks  your  boots  is  one  of  the  same 
Order :  but  he  don't  like  "  saycret  societies,"  and  he  declaims 
against  "  Know  Nothings  "  with  a  volubility  that  defies  the  oral 
peculiarities  of  a  Billingsgate  fish  woman.  At  the  very  time 
he  is  doing  this,  he  is  peering  into  your  private  affairs — telling 
Bishops  and  Priests  what  you  eat  for  breakfast,  dinner,  and 
supper ;  how  you  do  the  business  in  which  you  are  engaged ; 
what  vour  income  is,  and  how  vou  manage  to  live.'' 


't>^ 


The  Democrats  were  determined  to  root  out  the  intluence 
of  the  Know  Nothings  within  their  own  party.  Candidates 
in  Philadelphia  were  questioned  as  to  their  possible  mem- 

^  Pamphlet,  To  the  Thinking  Voter  of  Pennsylvania. 

*  Forney,  Address  on  Religious  Intolerance  and  Political  Proscription, 
p.  47;  £>ai73i  News,  September  30,  1854. 

^Pennsylvania  Telegraph,  June  14;  Daily  News,  July  25,  1854. 

♦  Pennsylvania  Telegraph,  June  14,  1854. 


214  THE  WHIG  PARTY  IN  PENNSYLVANIA  [460 

bership  in  the  new  organization.^  Mott,  Democratic  can- 
didate for  canal  commissioner,  was  endorsed  by  the  Know 
Nothings,  but  it  was  vigorously  denied  that  he  was  there- 
fore a  member  of  that  society.-  The  Whigs  declared  that 
the  Know  Nothings  drew  their  members  from  all  the  old 
parties,  and  that  consequently  they  could  not  justly  be  con- 
demned for  the  movement.^ 

In  the  elections  for  Congress  the  issue  was  sharply  and 
clearly  drawn  on  the  Kansas-Nebraska  Act.  In  strong, 
normal  Democratic  districts  the  Whigs  threw  their  influence 
to  "  Independent  Democrats,"  who  pledged  themselves  to 
work  for  the  repeal  of  the  measure.  The  Whigs  as  a  body 
stood  bound  in  opposition  to  the  act.  In  Lancaster  county, 
a  stronghold  of  the  Whigs,  where  two  years  before  the 
""  Silver  Greys,"  so  called  because  they  favored  the  slave- 
holder, had  secured  control  of  the  party  organization,  an 
independent  Whig,  run  by  the  Stevens  "  Wooly  Head  " 
faction,  which  leaned  towards  abolition,  was  elected  with 
the  help  of  the  Know  Nothings.*  In  the  second  con- 
gressional district  of  Philadelphia,  Joseph  R.  Chandler  wasi 
refused  a  nomination  for  reelection  because  he  was  a  Catho- 
lic.^ The  reasons  openly  avowed  were  that  he  had  not  op- 
posed the  establishment  of  a  branch  mint  at  New  York, 
which  was  detrimental  to  Philadelphia,  that  he  had  voted 
for  the  subsidy  to  the  Collins  steamship  line,  a  New  York 
corporation,  and  that  his  actions  at  the  Vatican  during  a 
recent  visit  had  been  unseemly. °  The  friends  of  Chandler 
placed  him  in  nomination  as  an  independent  Whig  candidate 

1  Evening  Bulletin,  September  12,  1854. 
'  Daily  News,  August  30,  1854. 
'  Ibid.,  October  4,  1854. 
■*  Evening  Bulletin,  October  28,  1854. 
^  Ibid.,  September  6;  Daily  News,  September  28,  1854. 
*  Daily  News,  October  2,  1854. 


o 


o 


> 


» 
•/I 


4^ 


46l]     THE  DISAPPEARANCE  OF  THE  WHIG  PARTY       2 1 


D 


but  he  was  easily  defeated/  In  the  fourth  congressional 
district,  also  in  Philadelphia,  pressure  was  brought  to  bear 
on  the  Whig  nominee,  whO'  withdrew  in  favor  of  the  Native 
American  candidate,  Jacob  Broom,  presidential  candidate  in 
1852,  who  was  duly  elected.  In  the  first  district,  although 
the  Native  American  candidate  withdrew,  the  Whig  was 
defeated.'  Of  the  twenty-five  Congressmen-elect  twenty- 
one  were  anti-Nebraska  men,  composed  of  fourteen  Whigs, 
one  "  Independent  "  Whig,  one  Native  American,  and  five 
Democrats;  this  gave  the  administration  only  four  De- 
mocratic supporters  from  the  state. ^ 

The  general  election  for  state  officials  resulted  in  the 
choice  of  James  Pollock,  Whig,  for  governor,  of  Henry 
S.  Mott,  Democrat,  for  canal  commissioner,  and  of  Jere- 
miah S.  Black,  Democrat,  for  judge  of  the  supreme  court. 
The  total  vote  was  approximately  370,000,  of  which  the 
Democrats  controlled  167,000,  the  Whigs  83.000,  and  the 
Know  Nothings  120,000.^  The  Know  Nothing  vote  was 
well  diffused  throughout  the  state,  and  differed  from  the 
nativist  vote  of  1844  i^i  this  respect.  Although  not  inde- 
pendently organized,  the  Know  Nothings  by  selecting  can- 
didates from  the  nominees  of  the  major  parties  secured 
their  election.     The  result  was  a  legislature  of  a  peculiar 

1  Evemng  Bulletin^  September  12,  16,  19,  October  28,  1854. 

^  Daily  News,  October  9,  1854. 

^Evening  Bulletin,  October  21,  1854. 

*  Official  returns  for  governor  in  Smull's  Legislative  Hand- 
Book.  1919,  p.  720,  James  Pollock  (Whig  and  American)  203.822; 
William  Bigler  (Dem.)  166.991;  B.  Rush  Bradford  (Nat.  Am.) 
2,194;  scattering  23-  Official  returns  in  Evening  Bulletin,  October 
26,  1854,  for  canal  commissioner,  Henry  S.  Mott  (Dem.)  274,074; 
George  Darsie  (Whig)  83,331;  B.  M.  Spicer  (Nat.  Am.)  1,244; 
for  supreme  court  judge,  Jeremiah  S.  Black  (Dem.)  167,010; 
Thomas  H.  Baird  (Nat.  Am.)  120,596;  Daniel  Smyser  (WTiig)  73,571; 
for  prohibition  158.342,  against  163.510. 


2i6  THE  WHIG  PARTY  IN  PENNSYLVANIA  [462 

complexion.  There  were  twenty-five  Democrats  in  the 
lower  house,  thirteen  Democratic-Americans,  three  inde- 
pendent Democrats,  and  one  Temperance-Democrat,  a  total 
of  forty-two.  The  Whigs  had  fifty-three  members,  com- 
posed of  thirty-six  Whigs,  fifteen  Whig-Americans,  and 
two  Temperance- Whigs.  There  w^ere  also  four  Americans 
and  one  Temperance- American.^  This  legislature  well  illus- 
trates the  cross  currents  of  politics  in  the  state  as  the  re- 
sult of  the  advent  of  the  Know  Nothings.  Certainly  it  cannot 
with  justice  be  claimed  that  the  Democratic  defeat  was  due 
exclusively  to  either  the  Know  Nothing  movement  or  the 
anti-Nebraska  agitation,  although  either  one  of  them  in- 
dependently would  have  accomplished  the  overthrow  of  the 
Democrats  in  1854.  There  was  no  doubt  but  that  the 
Whigs  were  badly  disorganized.  The  question,  however,  of 
the  disposition  of  the  83,000  Whigs  remained  to  be 
solved.  The  governor-elect  realized  that  the  old  parties 
were  decadent  and  looked  to  the  organization  of  a  "  liberal, 
tolerant,  high-minded  and  truly  American  party."  He 
viewed  the  victory  as  the  "  vindication  of  great  American 
principles,  too  long  the  sport  of  demagogues  and  too  often 
overthrown  by  influences  foreign  to  the  best  interests  of 
our  Country."  " 

When  the  legislature  assembled,  some  of  the  difficulties 
of  organizing  the  society,  which  had  worked  in  secret,  into 
a  political  party  came  into  evidence.  On  February  9,  1855, 
a  caucus  of  the  Know  Nothings  or  Americans,  as  they  were 
now  called,  was  held  to  place  a  candidate  for  the  United 
States  Senate  in  nomination.     Ninety-one  members  of  the 

>  Evening  Bulletin,  October  21,  1854.  It  now  became  customary  to 
call  the  Know  Nothings  by  the  name  of  Americans;  they  will  be  re- 
ferred to  hereafter  as  such. 

2  Letter  from  James  Pollock,  October  30,  1854,  to  John  M.  Clayton ; 
Clayton  Papers,  Lib.  of  Cong. 


463]     ^^^^^  DISAPPEARANCE  OF  THE  WHIG  PARTY       217 

legislature,  considerably  more  than  avowed  themselves) 
Americans,  attended.  The  voting  was  by  ballot  and  not 
viva  voce.  On  the  sixth  ballot  one  more  vote  than  members 
attending  was  cast,  and  Simon  Cameron  was  within  one 
vote  of  having  a  majority.  Thirty-two  members  then  with- 
drew, declaring  that  they  would  not  abide  by  the  decision  of 
the  caucus.  On  the  next  ballot  Cameron  received  the  nomi- 
nation of  the  remainder  of  the  caucus.^  The  nomination 
was  widely  condemned,  regardless  of  party  affiliation.  The 
seceding  members  in  an  address,  justifying  their  with- 
drawal, affirmed, 

But  what  we  say  unto  one  we  say  unto  all,  invite  us  not  in  to 
partake  of  a  buzzard's  feast.  Ask  us  not  to  support  a  nomin- 
ation brought  about,  as  we  believe,  by  the  concentrated  and 
cohesive  power  of  public  plunder,  and  the  superadded  element 
of  shameless  and  wholesale  private  bribery.- 

Inasmuch  as  Cameron  did  not  control  a  majority  of  the 
votes  of  the  members  of  the  legislature,  and  inasmuch  as 
the  opposition  could  not  concentrate  on  one  candidate,  the 
election  was  postponed  until  the  following  year.^ 

Successful  efforts  to  organize  the  Know  Nothings,  or  the 
Americans,  on  a  national  scale  were  made.  The  slavery 
question,  which  had  split  the  Whig  party,  was  to  have  the 
same  effect  on  the  newer  organization.  This  was  evidenced 
when  the  national  council  assembled  in  June.  The  resolu- 
tions, which  were  adopted,  declared  in  Article  XII  that 

the  National  Council  has  deemed  it  the  best  guarantee  of  com- 
mon justice  and  of  future  peace,  to  abide  by  and  maintain  the 
existing  laws  upon  the  subject  of  Slavery,  as  a  final  and  con- 
CiUsive  settlement  of  that  subject,  in  spirit  and  in  substance. 

^  Daily  News,  February  12,  15,  1855. 

*  Pennsylvania  Telegraph,  February  21,  1855. 

^  Daily  News,  March  14,  15,  1855. 


2i8  THE  WHIG  PARTY  IN  PENNSYLVANIA  [464 

And  regarding  it  their  highest  duty  to  avow  their  opinions 
upon  a  subject  so  important,  in  distinct  and  unequivocal  terms, 
it  is  hereby  declared  as  the  sense  of  this  National  Council,  that 
Congress  possesses  no  power,  under  the  Constitution,  to  legis- 
late upon  the  subject  of  Slavery  in  the  States  where  it  does  or 
may  exist,  or  to  exclude  any  State  from  admission  into  the 
Union,  because  its  Constitution  does  or  does  not  recognize  the 
institution  of  Slavery  as  a  part  of  its  social  system ;  and  ex- 
pressly pretermitting  any  expression  of  opinion  upon  the  power 
of  Congress  to  establish  or  prohibit  Slavery  in  any  Territory, 
it  is  the  sense  of  the  National  Council  that  Congress  ought  not 
to  legislate  upon  the  subject  of  Slavery  within  the  Territory  of 
the  United  States,  and  that  any  interference  by  Congress  with 
Slavery  as  it  exists  in  the  District  of  Columbia,  would  be  a 
violation  of  the  spirit  and  intention  of  the  compact  by  which 
the  State  of  Maryland  ceded  the  District  to  the  United  States, 
and  a  breach  of  the  National  faith/ 

Fifteen  members  of  the  council,  led  by  ex-Governor  John- 
ston of  Pennsylvania,  withdrew,  protesting  against  the  in- 
troduction of  the  slavery  question  and  maintaining  that  its 
introduction  was  contrary  to  the  principles  of  the  American 
party,  and  that,  if  the  question  were  to  be  disposed  of,  the 
Missouri  Compromise  should  have  been  endorsed."  When 
the  convention  itself  met,  fifty-four  delegates  from  twelve 

^  Eveniitg  Bulletin,  June  15,  1855. 

*  Pennsylvania  Telegraph,  June  20,  1855;  the  delegates  came  from 
Pennsylvania,  Illinois,  New  Jersey,  Vermont,  Delaware,  and  Connec- 
ticut. The  Indiana  delegates  issued  a  separate  protest.  The  same 
journal,  on  June  27,  1855,  approved  of  the  course  adopted,  saying, 
"To  exact  a  National  sentiment  in  favor  of  a  sectional  institution — 
and  that  institution  slavery — is  simply  an  absurdity.  .  .  .  Philadelphia 
and  New  York  may  cry  'Peace!  Peace!' — but  until  you  concede 
freedom  to  Kansas  and  Nebraska,  and  restore  the  Missouri  Compro- 
mise, the  masses  from  the  interior  will  respond  'no  peace!'  Plat- 
forms may  be  reared  as  high  as  heaven,  and  numerous  as  the  stars, 
but  if  constructed  of  Kansas  timber,  the  parties  occupying  them 
would  do  well  to  dispose  of  their  estates  and  appoint  executors." 


465]     ^^^  DISAPPEARANCE  OF  THE  WHIG  PARTY       219 

New  England  and  western  states  withdrew  because  of  the 
introduction  of  this  question/  The  bolters  from  the  Phila- 
delphia convention  met  at  Cincinnati  on  November  21,  1855, 
according  to  call.  A  motion  to  expunge  Article  XII,  how- 
ever, was  not  adopted  and  no  definite  action  was  taken." 

The  fight  on  Article  XII  was  carried  by  ex-Governor 
Johnston  into  the  Pennsylvania  convention  of  the  Ameri- 
can party,  which  assembled  at  Reading  on  July  2.  The 
-convention  was  under  the  control  of  the  free-soil  element, 
and  Article  XII  failed  of  adoption  by  a  vote  of  30  to  143. 
On  the  other  hand,  the  strong  free-soil  report  of  the  major- 
ity of  the  platform  committee  was  rejected  by  a  vote  of 
89  to  104,  and  the  milder  minority  report  was  accepted  by 
a  vote  of  133  to  53.  The  substitute  for  Article  XII  stated 
that  the  slavery  question  should  not  have  been  brought  up 
in  the  National  Council,  but  now  that  this  question  had  been 
forced  upon  the  attention  of  the  party  the  state  convention 
felt  compelled  to  declare  that  the  repeal  of  the  Missouri 
Compromise  was  "  an  infraction  of  the  plighted  faith  of 
the  nation  "  and  that  the  compromise  should  be  restored. 
Seventy-three  of  those  supporting  the  minority  report  were 
eastern  delegates.  Of  those  who  opposed  it  because  of 
its  mildness  thirty  were  western  delegates  and  twenty-three 
eastern.  This  action  of  the  state  convention  led  to  the 
withdrawal  of  ten  Philadelphia  delegates,  for  whom  the 
platform  was  too  radical.  This  group  had  been  endeavor- 
ing to  block  the  free-soil  element,  continued  their  efforts,  and 
in  the  election  of  1856  merged  with  the  Democrats.^ 

The  formation  of  the  Republican  party  had,  in  the  mean- 

^  Ibid.,  June  20;  Daily  Xezvs,  June  14,  1855.  The  bolters  came  from 
Ohio,  Indiana,  Illinois,  Michigan,  Massachusetts.  New  Hampshire, 
Vermont,  Maine,  Rhode  Island,  Connecticut,  Iowa,  and  Wisconsin. 

*  Pennsylvania  Telegraph,  September  \2,  Xoveml>er  28,  1855. 

■»  Ibid.,  July  1 1  ;  Daily  \'cu-s,  July  9,  .\ugust  27,  1855. 


220  ^^HE  WHIG  PARTY  IX  PENNSYLVANIA  [466 

time,  been  under  way  within  the  state.  On  November  27, 
1854,  a  local  organization  was  eftected  in  Wilmot's  dis- 
trict/ which  was  followed  by  similar  movements  in  other 
portions  of  the  state.^  The  strength  of  the  new  party  came 
from  the  dissatisfied  free-soil  element  of  the  older  parties. 
Many  "  old  line  "  Whigs,  however,  barred  by  the  religious 
proscription  of  the  American  party,  distrusted  the  radicalism 
of  the  Republican  party,  and  consequently  attempted  to 
fuse  the  local  Whig  organization  with  the  Democrats,  in 
the  hope  that  the  new  parties  might  be  overwhelmed.^  The 
fusion  nominees  of  the  conservative  Whigs  and  of  the  De- 
mocrats were  barely  defeated  in  the  May  municipal  elec- 
tions in  Philadelphia  by  the  combined  effcrts  of  the  radical 
Whigs  and  Americans.* 

In  July,  1855,  attention  was  strikingly  attracted  to  the 
slavery  question  by  the  imprisonment  of  Passmore  Wil- 
liamson in  the  Moyamensing  Jail,  Philadelphia.  William- 
son was  a  Friend  and  acted  as  secretary  of  the  Pennsylva- 
nia Abolition  Society.  He  had  encouraged  a  female  slave 
with  her  two  children  to  abandon  their  owner,  whO'  was  on 
his  way  through  the  city  to  New  York  where  he  intended  to 
embark  for  Nicaragua  to  take  up  his  duties  as  consul.  Upon 
the  failure  of  Williamson  to  produce  the  escaped  slavesi 
when  a  writ  of  alias  habeas  corpus  was  served  on  him  by 
order  of  Judge  Kane  of  the  United  States  District  Court, 
he  was  adjudged  guilty  of  contempt  of  court,  and  was  im- 
prisoned until  such  time  as  he  should  purge  himself  of  the 
contempt.     By    one   trial    or    another    the   case   was   kept 

1  Daily  News,  December  4,  1855. 

^Pennsylvania  Telegraph,  March  21;  Evening  Bulletin,  August  31, 
1854. 

'  Address  of  the  Whig  committee  of  correspondence,  Daily  News, 
August  31,  1855. 

*Ibid.,  April  3,  10,  25,  May  4,  11,  1855. 


467]     THE  DISAPPEARANCE  OF  THE  WHIG  PARTY       221 

prominently  before  the  public  from  July  18,  the  date  of 
the  escape,  until  November  3,  when  Williamson  was  re- 
leased/ During  the  time  of  his  imprisonment  the  state  or- 
ganization of  the  Republican  party  was  being  effected."  At 
the  state  mass  convention,  which  met  at  Pittsburgh  on  Sep- 
tember 5,  strong  anti-slavery  resolutions  were  adopted. 
The  candidate  for  canal  commissioner  proposed  by  the 
committee  was  set  aside  by  the  convention  and  amidst  great 
enthusiasm  Passmore  Williamson  was  nominated.  This 
action  was  strenuously  opposed  by  Alex.  K.  McClure, 
Theophilus  Fenn,  and  others,  who  hoped  to  nominate  an 
individual  acceptable  to  the  less  radical  Whigs,  who  were 
soon  to  meet  in  state  convention.^ 

In  all  the  counties  of  the  state  a  political  realignment  was 
necessary  for  the  election  of  1855.  The  Democrats  absor- 
bed a  large  number  of  Whigs  who  were  alanned  at  the 
radicalism  of  the  new  parties.  In  practically  every  county 
of  the  state  the  Democrats  ran  their  ticket.  In  a  majority 
of  the  counties  the  American  party  had  assumed  control 
of  the  old  Whig  organizations,  but  in  former  Whig  strong- 
holds the  Whig  party  maintained  an  indq^endent  existence. 
In  the  western  portion  of  the  state  and  in  the  northern  tier 
of  counties,  where  the  Liberty  and  Free  Soil  parties  had 
existed,   and   in   the  counties   around    Philadelphia,    where 

'^Evening  Bulletin,  July  19,  20,  21,  27.  28,  August  i,  9,  29,  30,  31. 
September  i.  3,  8,  10,  28,  29,  October  8,  9,  12,  November  3,7,  1855. 
United  States  ex  rel.  John  H.  Wheeler  v.  Passmore  Williamson,  5 
Clark  365,377;  Passmore  Williamson's  Case,  26  Pcnna.  9;  Williamson 
V.  Lewis  39  Peuua.  9;  Hildreth,  Atrocious  Judges,  pp.  389-432,  "Case 
of  Passmore  Williamson." 

2  On  August  8,  1855,  thirtj'-two  representatives  from  ten  counties  had 
assembled  at  Reading  and  issued  the  call  for  the  mass  convention ; 
Daily  News,  August  13,  1855. 

'^Jbid.,  August  29,  Septembers;  Evening  Bulletin,  September  6,  1855. 


222  THE  WHIG  PARTY  IN  PENNSYLVANIA  [468- 

Friends  were  numerous,  the  Republican  party  succeeded  in. 
organizing/ 

The  only  general  official  to  be  elected  this  year  was  the 
canal  commissioner,  for  which  office  all  the  parties  made 
nominations.  Of  the  opposition  to  the  Democrats,  the 
Native  Americans,  meeting  on  June  7,  were  the  first  to 
nominate.  They  were  followed  on  July  2  by  the  Ameri- 
cans, on  September  5  by  the  Republicans,  and  on  Sep- 
tember II  by  the  Whigs.'  There  assembled  for  the  Whig* 
convention  fifty-nine  delegates,  some  of  whom  had  been, 
active  in  the  Republican  convention,  but  the  remnant  of 
the  Whigs  had  no  cohesive  principle.  The  report  of  the 
committee  on  resolutions  decried  proscription,  condemned 
the  slavery  course  of  the  federal  administration,  favored  the 
restoration  of  the  Missouri  Compromise,  opposed  filibuster- 
ing, proposed  the  modification  of  the  Fugitive  Slave  Law* 
and  a  provision  for  jury  trial  for  the  alleged  fugitive  slave, 
and  advocated  the  sale  of  the  state-owned  public  works; 
but  this  report  was  tabled  and  no  resolutions  were  adopted.* 
With  four  opposing  party  candidates  in  the  field,  it  wasi 
evident  that  the  Democrats  would  have  no  difficulty  in  elect- 
ing their  candidate,  so  efforts  were  made  to  effect  some  sort 
of  cooperation.  On  September  27  the  state  central  com- 
mittees of  the  Whig,  the  American,  and  the  Republican 
parties  met  at  Harrisburg.  Each  committee  then  with-* 
drew  its  party  nominee,  and  the  joint  committee  thereupon 

1  Daily  Neivs,  June  2,  14,  28,  29,  July  16,  20,  211,  26,  28,  31,  August 
3,  4,  6,  9),  II,  13,  15,  20,  22,  23,  27,  29,  30,  31,  September  3,  5,  /, 
8,  II,  12,  13,  17,  19,  20,  21,  October  4,  5;  Evening  Bulletin,  August 
29,  September  5;  Pennsylvania  Telegraph,  July  4,  11,  August  i,  8, 
September  5,  1855. 

*  Daily  News,  June  11,  July  9,  September  8;  Pennsylvania  Telegraphy 
July  II,  September  19;  Evening  Bulletin,  September  7,  12,  1855. 

^Pennsylvania  Telegraph,  September  19;  Evening  Bulletin,  September 
12,  1855.  •: 


469]     ^^^  DISAPPEARANCE  OF  THE  WHIG  PARTY       223 

nominated  Thomas  Nicholson  as  the  "  Union  ''  candidate 
for  canal  commissioner/ 

Although  their  opponents  agreed  on  a  "  Union  "  can- 
didate, nevertheless,  the  Democrats  succeeded  in  electing 
their  nominee,  but  only  by  a  plurality."  In  the  senate  there 
would  be  seventeen  Democrats,  fourteen  Americans,  one 
Republican,  and  one  Whig  hold-over;  in  the  house  there 
would  be  sixty-five  Democrats,  twenty-one  Americans,  nine 
Republicans,  five  anti-Democratic  fusionists,  and  no  Whigs.* 
The  election  did  not  indicate  the  strength  of  the  Demo- 
crats, but  clearly  showed  that  the  opposition  had  proceeded 
only  a  short  way  towards  cooperation.  The  Republicans 
in  particular  were  severely  criticized  by  the  Americans, 
whom  they  were  beginning  to  replace.*  In  summing  up  the 
reasons  for  their  failure  to  defeat  the  Democrats,  one 
journal  said. 

Our  contemporaries  are  busily  engaged  in  hunting  for  explan- 
ations of  our  late  defeat  in  Pennsylvania, — one  attributes  the 
result  to  the  Liquor  League,  another  to  the  withdrawal  of 
Williamson, — a  third  to  the  Foreign  Protestant  vote, — a  fourth 
to  disaffected  Whigs, — a  fifth  to  the  anti-Nebraska  position 
of  the  Order, — a  sixth  to  the  secrecy  and  exclusiveness  of  the 

^  Daily  News,  September  20,  26,  October  i,  8;  Pennsylvania  Telegraph, 
October  3,  1855.  George  Darsie,  who  had  been  president  of  the  Re- 
publican convention,  denied  that  Williamson's  name  had  been  with- 
drawn. 

2  Pennsyhania  Telegraph,  October  24,  1855,  gives  the  official  returns : 
Plumer  (Dem.)  161,281;  Nicholson  (Union)  149,745;  Williamson 
(Rep.)  7.224;  Martin  (Amer.)  678;  Cleaver  (Nat.  Amer.)  4,056;  Hen- 
derson (Whig)  2,293. 

*  Evening  Bulletin,  October  20,  1855. 

^Pittsburgh  Times,  quoted  in  Pennsylvania  Telegraph,  October  10, 
1855.  The  Daily  News,  November  10,  1855,  called  the  Republican 
party  "a  miserable  failure"  and  accused  it  of  "rushing  into  a  wild 
abolition  crusade  against  the  South."' 


224  ^^^  WHIG  PARTY  IN  PENNSYLVANIA  [470 

Americans, — and  the  Pennsylvanian  and  the  Washington  Union 
to  the  popularity  of  Pierce,  Campbell  and  the  Nebraska 
infamy.^ 

The  movement  for  cooperation  was  continued  when  the 
state  legislature  assembled.  On  February  13,  1856,  the 
AVhig,  American  and  Republican  members  issued  a  call  for 
a  "  Union  Convention  "  tO'  meet  at  Harrisburg  on  March 
26;  the  delegates  to  this  convention  were  to  be  selected  in 
county  "  Union  Conventions."  ^  According  to  the  call  the 
conventon  assembled  and  determined  to  effect  a  thorough- 
going scheme  of  cooperation  for  the  coming  state  election. 
This  was  made  evident  in  the  nice  distribution  of  the  nomi- 
nations; for  auditor-general  Davison  Phelps,  an  American 
from  the  western  portion  of  the  state,  was  nominated,  for 
surveyor-general  Bartholomew  Laporte,  a  Republican  from 
the  northern  portion,  and  for  canal  commissioner  Thomas 
E.  Cochran,  an  "  old  line  "  Whig  from  the  eastern  section.' 
W^ith  these  nominees  the  "  Union  "  organization  conld  at 
the  same  time  make  sectional  and  political  appeals.  The 
convention  practically  marked  the  end  of  the  Whig  party 
as  a  state  organization,  for  it  lost  its  identity. 

Efforts  to  throw  the  remaining  Whig  county  organiza- 
tions to  one  of  the  other  parties  continued.  In  the  greater 
portion  of  the  counties  independent  organizations  had  been 
abandoned  for  the  election  of  1855.  T"  the  western  por- 
tion of  the  state  the  Whigs  had,  in  the  main,  fused  with 
the  Americans,  who  were  now  in  turn  being  absorbed  by* 
the  Republicans.*     In  Philadelphia  the  Whig  organization 

^  Pennsylvania  Telegraph,  October  10,  1855. 
"^Carlisle  Herald,   March   19,    1856. 

^Public   Ledger,   March   27,   28;    Harrisburg   Telegraph,   March  28, 
April  I,  1856. 
*  Daily  Nczvs,  February  25.  1856. 


471  ]     THE  DISAPPEARANCE  OF  THE  WHIG  PARTY       225 

had  been  continued  by  those  who  were  bitterly  opposed  to 
the  proscript^ve  American's.  They  forced  out  of  their 
county  convention  all  who  were  suspected  of  being  affiliated 
with  the  American  movement.  In  the  spring  of  1856  they 
formed  an  independent  ticket  for  the  municipal  elections, 
but  later  withdrew  it.  Lack  of  strength  and  lack  of  interest 
led  them  on  April  24  definitely  to  abandon  their  existence 
as  a  party.^  Their  support  was  then  given  to  the  Demo- 
crats whose  ticket  they  helped  elect."  This  marked  the 
end  of  the  last  local  organization  within  the  state. 

Although  the  Whig  party  had  disappeared  as  a  state  and 
as  a  local  organization,  yet  its  existence  as  a  national  or- 

^  Ihid.,  March  10,  15,  19,  25,  28,  April  i,  25,  1856.  This  movement 
in  Philadelphia  was  led  by  Josiah  Randall  and  WilHam  B.  Reed,  who 
were  oflfended  by  the  anti-Catholic  policy  of  the  American  party. 
Reed  on  February  7,  1856,  wrote  to  Buchanan,  "  I  have  been  all  my 
life  as  you  know  a  Whig,  and  if  I  do  mark  my  old  age  by  a  con- 
version or  apostacy  it  will  be  a  very  disinterested  one.  This  has 
come  to  pass  mainly  through  the  growth  of  this  miserable  business 
of  Know  Nothingism  which  has  corrupted  and  destroyed  the  party  I 
once  belonged  to.  Mingled  with  this  is  a  conviction,  the  fruit  of 
slow  reflection,  that  the  Democratic  party  is  now  and  is  likely  to 
continue  the  conservative  party  of  the  nation.  So  much  for  myself — 
about  which  it  is  hardly  worth  while  to  say  so  much."  Reed  mentioned 
the  fact  that  other  "old  line  Whigs"  were  adopting  the  same  course; 
Buchanan  Mss.  In  Lancaster  county  Isaac  Hiester,  who  in  1852  had 
defeated  Stevens  and  the  "  Wooly  Heads"  and  had  reestablished  the 
"Silver  Greys"  in  control  of  the  county  Whig  organization  but  had 
again  lost  it  in  1854  through  the  Know  Nothing  movement,  now  went 
over  to  the  Democrats;  Ilarrisburg  Telegraph,  March  4.  1856.  Ben- 
jamin H.  Brewster  complained  to  Buchanan  on  October  16,  1858,  that 
these  acquisitions  had  all  deserted  by  that  date.  "  They  never  in- 
tended to  stay.  They  all  wanted  to  be  captains  in  our  common  picbiaii 
ranks  and  as  we  had  not  commissions  for  them  they  have  deserted.'' 
Buchanan  Mss. 

•  The  Republicans  made  nominations  for  the  municipal  elections  in 
Philadelphia  but  they  received  little  supi>ort.  The  vote  for  mayor 
was  Vaux  (Dem.)  29,534;  Moore  (.Amer.)  25.445:  Tliomas  (Rep.) 
280;  Daily  News,  April  11,  16,  May  9,  1856. 


226  THE  WHIG  PARTY  IN  PENNSYLVANIA  [472 

ganization  terminated  only  with  the  presidential  election. 
The  American  party  was  the  first  to  make  its  nominations. 
Trouble  had  arisen  in  the  party  because  of  two  articles  in 
its  platform  of  1855.  Article  VIII,  dealing  with  the 
Catholic  question,  deeply  offended  the  Louisiana  delegation, 
while  Article  XII,  dealing  with  the  slaver}^  question,  led  toi 
the  withdrawal  from  the  organization  of  a  large  number 
of  northerners.  On  February  18,  1856,  the  National 
Council  met  at  Philadelphia  and  repealed  the  platform  of 
1855.  In  the  new  series  of  resolutioils  the  slavery  question 
was  carefully  avoided.^  In  the  nominating  convention, 
which  met  on  February  22,  1856,  the  slavery  question  was 
again  raised  by  contesting  delegations  from  Pennsylvania. 
The  "  Edie  "  delegates,  chosen  at  the  Reading  state  conven- 
tion of  the  year  before,  who  were  free-soil  in  their  tenden- 
cies, were  seated  because  of  the  regularity  of  their  selection.- 
The  "  Hunsecker  "  delegation,  chosen  by  the  bolters  from 
the  state  convention,  although  pro-slavery,  was  rejected. 
The  discussion  of  the  resolutions  led  to  the  temporary 
withdrawal  of  a  large  number  of  southern  delegates,  while 
the  nomination  of  Fillmore  and  Donelson  led  to  the  per- 
manent withdrawal  O'f  northern  delegates.  A  portion  of 
the  Pennsylvania  delegation,  led  by  ex-Governor  Johnston, 
joined  with  other  northern  seceders  in  issuing  a  pronunci- 
amento  justifying  their  action  and  looking  for  cooperation 
with  the  Republicans.  They  condemned  the  platform  of 
their  party  and  insisted  on  the  restoration  of  the  Missouri 
Compromise.^  The  state  council  of  the  American  party, 
as  a  result  of  these  withdrawals,  now  came  under  the  con- 
trol of  those  who  had  been  defeated  in  the  state  convention 

^  Ibid.,  February  20,  21,  22;  Public  Ledger,  February  20,  21,  22;  Har~ 
risburg  Telegraph,  February  22,  1856. 

'  Daily  News,  February  23,  25,  26,  27 ;  Public  Ledger,  February  23,  25, 
26,  1856. 


473]     T^E.  DISAPPEARANCE  OF  THE  IVHIG  PARTY       227 

of  the  year  before  and  who  were  intent  on  molHfying  the 
South/  When  the  council  met  on  May  13  at  Harrisburg, 
the  seceders  from  the  Philadelphia  convention  were  con- 
demned and  the  nominations  of  Fillmore  and  Donelson 
endorsed." 

The  Republican  party  was  completing  its  preparations  for 
participation  in  the  national  elections.  On  February  22, 
1856,  a  preliminary-  mass  convention  of  the  party  was 
held  at  Pittsburgh.  The  expectation  of  some  form  of  co- 
operation with  the  American  party  was  not  realized ;  for  the 
latter  party  proceeded,  without  consulting  the  Republicans, 
to  make  its  own  nominations.  Consequently,  the  Repub- 
licans called  a  nominating  convention  to  assemble  on  June 
17  at  Philadelphia.^  Five  days  before  the  date  set  for  the 
assembling  of  this  convention,  there  met  at  New  York  the 
seceders  from  the  American  convention,  who  called  them- 
selves the  "  North  Americans."  An  invitation  had  been 
extended  them  to  cooperate  with  the  Republicans.  A  com- 
mittee was  appointed  to  proceed  to  Philadelphia,  after  an 
informal  ballot  had  disclosed  the  fact  that  their  preferences 
were  Banks  and  Johnston.*  The  Republicans  treated  with 
this  committee  very  informally.  Fremont  and  Dajiiom 
were  the  Republican  nominees.^  Following  this  action. 
Banks  withdrew  his  name  as  the  potential  candidate  of  the 
"  North  Americans."  The  committee  upon  its  return  to 
New  York  complained  of  the  treatment  which  they  had 
received,  but  recommended  that  their  party  endorse  the 
Republican    nominees.     The    convention    then    nominated 

1  Daily  News,  February  27,  1856. 

'  Harrisburg  Telegraph,  May  15,  1856. 

^  Ibid.,  February  26,  March  4,  1856. 

*  Daily  News.  June  13,  14,  16,  17,  18,  1856. 

*  Harrisburg  Telegraph,  June  19,  26,  1856. 


228  THE  WHIG  PARTY  IN  PENNSYLVANIA  [474 

Fremont  and  Johnston/  Later  in  the  campaign,  on  August 
29,  Johnston  withdrew,  and  thereupon  the  support  of  the 
"  North  Americans,"'  with  the  exception  of  a  smaH  group, 
was  given  to  the  RepubHcan  party." 

On  September  17  there  gathered  at  Baltimore  a  Whig 
national  convention  for  which  somehow  or  other  delegates 
from  twenty-one  states  had  been  selected.  They  claimed 
to  be  "  old  line  ''  Whigs,  who  assembled  to  reaffirm  the  faith, 
but  many  avowed  Americans  were  in  attendance.  The  con- 
vention placed  Fillmore  and  Donelson  in  nomination.^  This 
action  attracted  little  attention,  although  in  Philadelphia  a 
mass  meeting  was  held  to  celebrate  the  event. ^  In  the  in- 
terior of  the  state  the  Whig  remnant  had  joined  in  endor- 
sing Fremont  and  Dayton  as  the  "  People's  Candidates " 
and  were  forming  "  Union  ''  tickets.''^ 

In  the  spring  campaign  of  1856,  the  Democrats  O'f  Penn- 
sylvania indiscriminately  attacked  both  the  Americans  and 
the  Republicans,  particularly  after  the  formation  of  the 
state  "  Union  "  ticket.  The  chief  organ  of  the  state  party 
said  that  the  national  American  convention  was  "  composed 
of  flesh,  fish,  fowl  and  small  beer,  the  latter  ingredient 
forming  the  largest  part  of  the  pot  poiirri.  .  .  .  No  part  of 
the  assemblage  knows  what  it  wants,  but  the  negro  portion, 
and  they  go  for  Nigger  first,  last  and  all  the  time."  '^     When 

^  Daily  News,  June  21,  1S56. 

t 

^  Harrisburg  Telegraph,  September  11,  1856;  the  New  Jersey  and  five 
other  delegates  nominated  Robert  F.  Stockton  and  Kenneth  Raynor, 
Daily  News,  June  17,  18.  July  10,  1856.  Johnston's  letter  of  with- 
drawal in  Evening  Bulletin,  September  15,  1856. 

'Daily  News,  September  18,  19,  1856. 

*  Ibid.,  September  22,  1856. 

^  Harrisburg  Telegraph,  July  17,  August  7,  14,  28,  September  4,  11, 
1856. 
^  Daily  Pcnnsylranian,  February  21,  1850. 


475]     ^^-S  DISAPPEARANCE  OF  THE  WHIG  PARTY       229 

the  Democrats  carried  the  mayorahy  election  of  Philadel- 
phia in  May,  this  journal  gloried  at  the  defeat  of  the  "  Dark 
Lantern  Party"  and  at  the  discomfiture  of  the  "Nigger 
Worshippers."  ^  When  it  became  evident  that  the  Ameri- 
cans and  the  Republicans  were  not  cooperating  in  the 
national  campaign,  the  Democrats,  changing  tlieir  tactics, 
attacked  primarily  the  Republicans,  striving  to  prove  them 
as  unpalatable  to  the  Americans  as  to  the  Democrats.  If 
cooperation  should  be  achieved  by  the  Republicans  and  by 
the  Americans,  the  Democrats  might  lose  the  state  and  the 
election;  otherwise,  their  candidate  was  fairly  sure  of  suc- 
cess. ; 
In  adopting  the  policy  of  attacking  the  Republicans  most 
bitterly,  the  Democrats  avoided  being  too  ofifensive  to  the 
Americans.  They  asserted  that  Fremont  was  a  Catholic, 
and,  despite  the  denials  of  his  supporters,  repeated  the 
charges.  They  pointed  out  how  distasteful  it  was  to  see 
clerg}Tnen.  like  Henry  Ward  Beecher  and  Theodore  Parker, 
take  an  active  part  in  politics.  The  formation  of  German 
Republican  clubs  was  mentioned  again  and  again,  in  the 
hope  that  their  organization  would  disgust  the  ardent 
Americans."  The  Democrats  not  only  strove  to  keep  the 
Republicans  and  Americans  apart,  but  renewed  their  efforts! 
to  capture  more  of  the  votes  of  the  "  old  line "  Whigs. 
In  past  elections  they  had  secured  a  number  from  thisi 
group,  by  painting  the  Americans,  who  referred  to  their 
party  as  "  Sam,"  as  the  party  of  proscription.  After  the 
preliminary  plans  for  cooperation  in  the  presidential  elec- 
tion had  been  perfected,  one  editor  stated  that  '*  Sam  haa 

^  Daily  Peunsylvanian,  May  8,  31,  1856. 

*  Ibid.,  September  20,  27,  October  25;  Ilarrisburg  Weekly  Telegraph, 
September  25,  October  9,  23;  Bedford  Gazette,  July  25,  August  22,. 
September  19,  October  3,  10,  1856. 


030  THE  WHIG  PARTY  IN  PENNSYLVANIA  [476 

yielded  to  Sambo."  ^  Repeatedly  they  made  the  claim  that 
Fremont  was  a  sectional  candidate,  favored  abolition,  and 
■that  disunion  would  follow  his  election."  The  sneer  of 
Thaddeus  Stevens,  that  "  The  cry  of  '  The  Union  is  in 
danger '  is  the  argument  of  fools  to  an  audience  of  idiots," 
Vf^s  declared  to  be  characteristic  of  "  that  bold,  daring,  con- 
scienceless demagogue."  Many  evils  had  descended  upon 
the  state  in  the  past  because  the  opposition  party  had  yielded 
±0  his  leadership,  and  now  he  was  unfurling  the  banner  of 
■disunion  for  them.^ 

If  disunion  came  as  a  result  oi  the  election  of 
Fremont,  as  the  Democrats  asserted  it  surely  would,  then, 
they  continued,  the  profitable  trade  of  Philadelphia  with 
the  South  would  be  lost.  In  fact,  the  trade  of  some 
Philadelphia  merchants  in  that  area  was  already  being  tam- 
■pered  with.  According  to  a  card,  published  by  Morris  L. 
Hallowell  and  Company,  who  had  an  extensive  southern 
trade  in  dry  goods  and  clothing,  "  systematic  and  pertina- 
cious efforts  "  were  made  in  the  South  to  divert  trade  away 
from  them  "  by  appeals  to  the  prejudices  of  buyers  on  the 
score  of  unsound  political  sentiments  of  some  of  the  mem- 
"bers  of  our  firm."  The  firm  held  "  in  especial  contempt  that 
•class  of  dealers  in  our  city  who  '  sell  their  principles  with 
their  goods.'  "  In  order  that  there  might  be  no  mistaking 
their  position  they  concluded  their  card  as  follows : 

The  members  of  our  firm,  entertaining  a  wide  difference  of 
views  on  various  topics,  and  as  many  opinions  on  the  Slavery 
Question  as  there  are  members  of  it,  are  fully  united  on  one 
point  namely :  that  where  any  one  presumes  to  demand  as  a 
preliminary  to  purchasing  from  us,   that  he  shall   know  our 

•  Daily  Pennsylvanian,  October  4,  1856. 

*  Ibid.,  September  6,  13,  16,  October  2,  7,  1856. 
^Ibid.,  October  7,  1856. 


477]     ^^'^^  DISAPPEARANCE  OF  THE  WHIG  PARTY       031 

opinions  on  Slavery,  or  any  other  mooted  question  in  Religion 
or  Politics,  he  shall  be  informed  .  .  .  that  he  cannot  purchase 
from  us  for  cash  or  upon  any  terms,  until  he  shall  have  amply 
apologized  for  the  insult/ 

Stories  were  assiduously  circulated  that  if  Buchanan  should 
be  defeated,  the  South  would  refuse  to  pay  the  sixty  million 
dollars,  which  it  owed  to  the  merchants  and  manufacturers! 
of  Philadelphia.'  That  Philadelphia  merchants,  manufac- 
turers, and  workingmen  were  dependent  for  their  prosperity 
on  continued  amicable  relations  with  the  South,  which, 
in  turn,  were  dependent  upon  the  election  of  Buchanan,  was 
the  gist  of  this  Democratic  argument.  Queries  to  manufac- 
turers brought  out  the  extent  of  the  southern  trade.  Rich- 
ard Morris  and  Son,  engine-makers,  said.  "  The  South  is 
decidedly  our  best  customer ; "  to  it  they  annually  sent 
$300,000  worth  of  commodities,  but  to  the  New  England 
states  nothing.  Bailey  and  Brothers,  jewellers,  thought  that 
Avithout  their  southern  trade  their  sales  would  drop  off 
one-half ;  they  sold  nothing  to  the  New  England  states. 
Dunlap  and  Brothers,  coach  makers,  claimed  that  their 
business  with  the  South  was  ten  times  as  large  as  that  with 
New  England.  They  said,  "  Should  difficulty  occur  with 
the  South,  we  will  be  compelled  to  close  part  of  our  factor}'' 
and  discharge  half  of  our  men."  From  a  scrutiny  of  these 
and  other  facts,  the  editor  of  the  Democratic  Daily  Penn- 
sylvanian  concluded  that 

the  main  source  of  the  great  wealth  and  prosperity  of  Phila- 
delphia, and  indeed  of  all  the  Northern  States,  is  the  trade  of 
the  slaveholding  States — this  it  is  that  builds  up  and  sustains 
the  cities  and  towns  of  the  North — builds  up  and  sustains  our 

'  Evening  Bulletin,  August  23,  1856. 
*  Ibid.,  September  30,  1856. 


232  THE  WHIG  PARTY  IN  PENNSYLVANIA  [^^g 

commerce  and  our  manufactures,  and  gives  to  the  real  estate 
in  and  about  Philadelphia  its  present  increased  value. 

Will  you,  workingmen,  mechanics,  manufacturers,  mer- 
chants, or  property-holders,  strike  it  down,  as  is  proposed 
by  Black-Republican  leaders,  either  by  a  dissolution  of  the 
Union,  or  by  endangering  its  peaceful  continuance?  or  by 
alienation  of  the  friendly  feeling  of  the  Southern  States  ?  Will 
you  destroy  or  jeopard  it  that  the  three  or  four  millions  of 
negro  slaves  in  these  States  may  be  set  free,  let  loose  upon  the 
country,  to  come  upon  you,  the  people  of  Pennsylvania,  to  fill 
your  cities,  towns,  and  country,  with  paupers  and  crime,  as  is 
now  exhibited  in  St.  Domingo  and  Jamaica,  to  take  the  place 
of  you,  white  workingmen,  mechanics,  and  manufacturers,  or 
to  become  your  equals  and  companions  ?  Ask  the  Judge  Kelleys 
and  the  Speaker  Banks',  and  all  their  Fremont  Abolition  lead- 
ers and  their  Fillmore  aiders  and  abettors,  these  questions.^ 

The  Democrats  asserted  that,  if  Buchanan  should  be 
elected,  it  "  will  have  been  the  work  of  the  conservative  men 
O'f  the  country,  including  many  of  the  mercantile  classes." 
The  Republicans  urged  the  voters  not  to  forget  that 
Buchanan  was  one  of  the  authors  of  the  Ostend  Manifesto, 
and  that  if  he  were  true  to  its  doctrines,  war  would  inevit- 
ably follow.  Naturally,  in  that  event,  the  merchants  would 
be  the  first  to  suffer.^  The  Republicans  tried  to  appeal  to 
the  workingmen  by  reviving  the  stale  charge  that  Buchanan 
favored  a  daily  wage  of  ten  cents  for  them.^  Little  advan- 
tage was  derived  from  this  line  of  attack. 

The  Democrats  fully  realized  that  of  their  two  opponents 
Fremont  w^as  the  more  formidable,  and  constantly  referred 
to  him  as  "  The  Abolition  Candidate."  *     One  editor  from 

^  October  ii,  1856. 

'^Evening  Bulletin,  October  28,  1856. 

3  Harrisburg  Weekly  Telegraph,  September  25,  October  9,  1856. 

*  Daily  Fennsylvanian,  October  2,  7,  1856. 


4;79]     ^^^  DISAPPEARANCE  OF  THE  WHIG  PARTY       233 

the  western  portion  of  the  state  said  the  true  issue  was, 
"  Is  a  white  man  as  good  as  a  black  man?  ''  ^  The  Dem- 
ocratic state  central  committee,  under  the  leadership  of 
John  W.  Forney,  declared  the  negro  in  the  North  was 
nowhere  the  equal  of  the  white  man  and  asked,  "  Why- 
is  it  that  Abolitionism  does  not  begin  at  home  and  reform 
these  things  ?  "  '  The  Republicans  did  not  shirk  from  meet- 
ing these  attacks,  admitting  that  the  "  extension  or  non-ex- 
tension [of  slavery]  is  the  sole  issue,"  but  denied  that  the 
question  of  interference  with  it  where  it  existed  was  in- 
volved.^ 

In  June  Buchanan  had  been  nominated  at  Cincinnati 
as  the  Democratic  candidate  for  the  presidency.  With  two 
opponents  in  a  normally  Democratic  state,  it  was  quite 
evident  that  the  Democrats  would  be  victorious.  Despite  the 
proposal  that  a  "  Union  "  electoral  ticket  be  formed,  the 
American  party  held  a  state  convention  to  form  a  Fillmore 
and  Donelson  electoral  ticket.*  This  proved  to  be  the  chief 
obstacle  in  the  way  of  thoroughgoing  cooperation.  How- 
ever, on  October  7,  1856,  the  "  Union"  state  central  com- 
mittee, appointed  at  the  March  convention  to  secure  the 
election  of  the  state  officers  there  nominated,  called  a  con- 
vention of  all  the  Buchanan  opponents  to  meet  on  October 
21.  They  proposed,  in  their  call,  a  plan  of  proportional 
cooperation,  whereby  the  voters  were  to  vote  for  the  same 
twenty-six  electors  and  the  twenty-seventh  elector,  who 
was  to  head  the  list,  was  to  be  either  Fillmore  or  Fremont 
according  to  the  preference  of  the  voter.  In  the  event  that 
the  "  Union  "  ticket  should  be  elected,  the  twenty-seventli 

^Bedford  Gazette,  August  i,  1856. 

*  Daily  Peunsyh-auian,  August  30,  1856. 
3  Evening  Bulletin,  November   i,   1856. 

*  Dai7;y  News,  August  7,  1856. 


234  ^^-S  WHIG  PARTY  IN  PENNSYLVANIA  [480 

elector  would  be  lost  but  the  other  twenty-six  electors 
were  to  vote  for  Fillmore  and  for  Fremont  according 
to  the  proportion  of  votes  which  they  had  received  as  the 
twenty-seventh  elector/  Before  the  convention  met,  the 
state  election  was  held  and  the  Democrats  were  victorious 
by  a  small  majority  of  two  thousand."  This  defeat  acted 
as  an  incentive  for  the  adoption  of  the  proposed  plan.  The 
electoral  ticket  which  was  thus  formed  was  endorsed  by  the 
Republican  and  the  "  North  American  "  committees,  but  by 
only  six,  a  minority,  of  the  Fillmore  and  Donelson  com- 
mittee.® 

The  views  of  both  the  Republicans  and  Democratic 
parties  were  most  assiduously  spread  throughout  the  state 
both  before  and  after  the  state  elections  on  October  I4- 
The  intensity  of  the  campaign  increased  prior  to  the  presi- 
dential election.  The  Democrats  claimed  that  the  Repub- 
licans in  secret  conclave  in  New  York  city  had  raised 
$ioo,cxxD  to  be  used  in  the  state.*  They  themselves  ap- 
parently had  a  large  fund  at  their  disposal.  Into  each  one 
of  the  twenty-eight  senatorial  districts  of  the  state,  they 
sent  speakers,  either  from  beyond  the  state  or  from  some 
other  portion  of  the  state.  For  two  weeks  prior  to  the  elec- 
tion, some  sixty  men  were  kept  busy  with  itinerant  speech- 
making."'  In  no  preceding  campaign  had  the  state  been  so 
thoroughly  covered  by  any  political  party. 

J  Carlisle  Herald,  October  15,  1856. 

2  Harrisburg  Weekly  Telegraph,  October  30,  1856 ;  the  vote  for  canal 
commissioner  was  George  Scott  (Dem.)  212,925;  Thomas  Cochran 
("Union")   210,172. 

^Ihid.,  October  22,  1856. 

*  Daily  P ennsylvanian ,  October  18,  1856;  for  the  gathering  of  funds 
in  other  states  to  be  used  in  Pennsylvania,  see  Rhodes,  History  of  the 
United  States,  vol.  ii.  pp.  230-231. 

^Ibid.,  October  18,  1856. 


&3 
a. 

5 

!2! 


H 

o 


CO 


481]     THE  DISAPPEARANCE  OF  THE  WHIG  PARTY       235 

Amidst  great  excitement,  the  election  was  held  on  Novem- 
ber 4.  The  returns  indicated  that  Buchanan,  due  to  the 
failure  of  some  of  the  Americans  to  cooperate  with  the 
Republicans,  carried  the  state  by  a  comfortable  plurality  of 
27,000.  Of  the  popular  vote  he  received  230,686.  As  the 
twenty-seventh  elector  on  the  "  Union "  ticket,  Fremont 
received  147,286  and  Fillmore  55,852  votes;  but  the  first 
elector  on  the  "  Union  "  ticket  received  203,534.  For  the 
independent  American  electoral  ticket  26,337  votes  were 
cast.  Buchanan  thus  had  a  majority  of  only  815  votes. 
Had  there  been  a  thoroughgoing  cooperation,  it  is  probable 
that  Buchanan  would  not  have  carried  the  state.  In  that 
case,  he  would  not  have  had  a  majority  of  the  votes  of  the 
electoral  colleges,  and  the  choice  of  a  President  would  have 
devolved  upon  the  national  House  of  Representatives.^ 

^  The  state  electoral  returns  are  in  Legislative  Documents,  1857,  pp. 
666-677. 


CHAPTER  VIII 
Characteristics  of  the  Whig  Party 

The  Whig  party,  both  in  its  national  and  in  its  state  or- 
ganizations, was  peculiarly  one  of  ccmpromise  and  conces- 
sion. Policies  were  announced,  adhered  to  for  a  time,  and, 
on  the  threat  of  internal  opposition,  modified  and  ultimately 
abandoned.  While  the  shifting  of  parties  on  alleged  prin-" 
ciples  is  a  common  phenomenon  of  politics,  yet  possibly  na 
party  was  ever  so  thoroughly  committed  to  it  as  was  the 
Whig.  In  a  measure,  it  was  inevitable  that  this  should  be 
so.  Its  great  leader  and  idol,  Henry  Clay,  had  earned  for 
himself,  because  of  his  compromising  and  compounding  on 
the  tariff  issue  in  1833,  the  title  of  "  The  Great  Pacificator." 
A  willingness  to  compromise  on  other  issues  marked  his 
later  career,  culminating  in  the  series  of  laws  adopted  in 
1850,  none  of  which  definitively  answered  the  questions 
which  had  been  raised.  With  Clay  and  other  leaders  willing 
to  abandon  avowed  principles  and  unwilling  to  adhere  to  de- 
finitely announced  policies,  the  parly  wandering  after  the 
will-o'-the-wisp  of  immediate  gain  finally  lost  all. 

The  existence  of  the  Whig  party  was  not,  however,  with- 
out some  advantage  to  the  country.  Its  policy  of  political 
opportunism  afforded  ample  time  for  the  divergent  senti- 
ments in  the  sections  to  crystallize,  showed  the  futility  of 
efforts  to  compromise  on  fundamental  principles,  and  proved 
the  incompatibility  of  membership  which  was  not  founded 
on  homogeneity.  For,  the  accessions,  which  came  to  the 
Whig  party  as  the  result  of  its  compromising,  prevented 
236  [482 


483]         CHARACTERISTICS  OF  THE  WHIG  PARTY  237 

the  party  from  becoming  homogeneous,  which  in  turn 
forced  it  on  to  other  compromises.  At  the  elections  for 
the  presidency  in  1844  and  in  1852,  at  which  the  party  en- 
deavored to  enunciate  principles,  the  Whigs  suffered  defeat. 
In  its  two  successful  elections,  the  candidates,  made  palat- 
able by  a  certain  amount  of  military  glory,  were  nominated 
without  platforms. 

Within  the  state,  the  lack  of  homogeneity  and  its  accom- 
panying evils  were  strikingly  in  evidence.  At  the  forma- 
tion of  the  party,  the  National  Republicans,  who  had  a 
strong  following  only  in  and  around  Philadelphia,  con- 
verted themselves  into  the  Whig  party,  accomplishing  the 
transformation  largely  throughout  a  mere  change  of  name. 
The  Anti-Masons,  who  had  more  supporters  in  the  state 
than  the  National  Republicans,  controlled  the  opposition  ta 
the  Democracy  in  the  interior  counties.  By  holding  them- 
selves aloof  and  by  not  joining  the  new  Whig  organization, 
they  compelled  the  WHiigs  to  be  pretentiously  conciliatory 
to  them,  and  thus  secured  the  direction  of  the  opposition  to 
the  Democracy  for  the  entire  state  until  after  the  Buckshot 
War.  Consequently,  the  Whigs  during  this  period  found 
themselves  committed  to  a  policy  with  which  they  were  not 
in  sympathy.  Only  the  collapse  of  political  Anti-Masonry 
relieved  the  Whigs  from  their  embarrassing  situation;  but 
the  sentiment  for  Anti-Masonry  persisted  and  sporadically 
continued  to  vex  the  Whigs.  Political  like-mindedness,  the 
basic  principle  of  all  effective  party  organization,  was  con- 
sequently missing  amongst  the  Whigs.  Another  p  ilitical 
element,  coming  early  to  the  Whigs,  but  not  numerically  as 
important  as  the  Anti-Masons,  was  from  the  ''  Convention 
Democrats."  Although  numerically  few,  yet  they  exercised, 
temporarily  at  least,  an  influence  on  the  Whigs  out  of  pro- 
portion to  their  strength.  But  in  the  It^ig  run  they  lost  their 
power,  because,  on  account  of  their  small  numl)ers,  the  pos- 


238  THE  WHIG  PARTY  IN  PENNSYLVANIA  [484 

sibility  of  their  withdrawal  from  the  party  caused  no  great 
alarm  to  the  Whigs. ^ 

The  lack  of  homogeneity  is  possibily  best  seen  in  the 
readiness  with  which  defections  occurred  from  the  ranks 
of  the  Whigs.  The  sudden  spread  of  the  Native  American 
movement  in  1844,  particularly  in  Philadelphia  city  and 
county,  caused  the  Whigs  great  concern,  for  the  new  party 
was  composed  largely  of  former  Whigs  and  the  movement 
was  symptomatic  of  what  might  recur  at  any  moment.  The 
defeat  of  Clay  and  the  remarkable  strength  of  the  Native 
Americans  left  the  Whigs  so  badly  disorganized  that  disinte- 
gration of  the  party  threatened  for  a  time  in  the  early  part 
of  1845.  The  failure  of  the  Native  American  movement  to 
assume  national  proportions  led  to  its  gradual  decadence 
within  the  state,  removed  the  possibility  of  its  achieving  even 
an  effective  state  organization,  and  left  a  mere  local  party^ 
but  strong  enough,  if  not  cooperating  with  the  Whigs,  to 
prevent  them  from  carrying  the  elections.  Efforts  to  wins 
back  the  former  Whigs  through  coalition  and  then  amalga- 
mation were  made,  but  without  a  great  deal  of  success.  The 
nomination  of  Taylor  in  1848  made  it  possible  for  the 
Native  Americans  to  cooperate  with  the  Whigs  without 
feeling  that  they  were  abandoning  their  party.  Many  Native 
Americans  and  a  few  Taylor  Democrats  w^ere  thus  definitely 
won  to  the  party.  A  number  of  irreconcilable  Native 
Americans  by  maintaining  an  independent  organization  after 
the  election  of  Taylor  and  by  refusing  to  cooperate  caused 
the  defeat  of  Whig  candidates,  and  constantly  through  their 
existence  threatened  a  revival  of  active  Native  Americanism. 

With  the  appearance  of  the  Know  Nothing  movement  in 
1854,  the  Whig  party,  as  a  national  organization,  was  well 

1  For  a  keen  analysis  of  the  Whig  party  in  another  state,  see  Fox, 
The  Decline  of  Aristocracy  in  the  Politics  of  New  York,  pp.  409,  ct  seq. 


485]         CHARACTERISTICS  OF  THE  WHIG  PARTY  239 

on  its  \vay  to  decay.  The  readiness  with  which  Whigs 
went  off  and  joined  the  new  organization  precluded  the 
possibiHty  of  a  rejuvention  of  the  Whig  national  party. 
The  blighting  effect  was  first  evidenced  in  the  state  party. 
As  a  state  organization,  the  Whigs  had  weathered  the 
stormy  defeats  in  the  gubernatorial  election  of  1851  and  in 
the  presidential  election  of  1852.  In  the  former  election, 
Free  Soil  Democrats  had  supported  Johnston,  but  the  fol- 
lowing year  refused  their  votes  to  Scott.  After  the  latter 
election,  statements  that  the  party  was  dead  abounded;  but 
the  state  organization,  weakened  as  it  was,  nevertheless 
showed  some  signs  of  vitality  in  the  election  for  canal  com- 
missioner in  1853.  Prospects  for  a  revival  of  the  party 
were  fairly  bright  in  1854,  but  were  soon  lost  to  view  be- 
cause of  the  dazzling  brilliancy  of  the  Know  Nothing  move- 
ment. Unmistakable  evidence  was  now  at  hand  that  the 
Whig  party  could  not  recover  its  lost  glory,  and  that  within 
a  short  period  of  time  the  party  would  completely  disappear. 
The  instability  of  the  Whig  constituency,  in  part  acquired 
and  held  as  the  result  of  frequent  compromising  and  vacil- 
lating, was  its  chief  element  of  weakness.  At  any  moment, 
disaffection  might  lead  large  or  small  groups  out  of  the 
party.  The  Native  American  and  the  Know  Nothing  move- 
ments illustrate  the  danger  from  this  source.  The  Liberty 
party  in  the  forties  and  the  Temperance  movement  in  the 
fifties  carried  away  in  local  elections  a  number  of  Whigs. 
A  problem,  consequently,  constantly  facing  the  Whigs  was 
how  to  prevent  the  disaffection  and  how  to  win  back  the 
disaffected.  At  times  the  efforts  of  the  Whigs  were  success- 
ful. But  the  shifting  of  the  members  of  the  party  almost 
en  masse  to  the  Know  Nothings  left  only  a  feeble  minority 
of  the  Whigs,  making  futile  efforts  to  maintiiin  the  "Id  or- 
ganization. The  absence  of  common  definite  political  i)rin- 
ciples  had  worked  itself  out  to  its  logical  conclusion.     The 


240  THE  WHIG  PARTY  IN  PENNSYLVANIA  [486 

Whig  party  of  the  state  in  its  effort  to  absorb  so^  many 
heterogeneous  elements  had  constantly  been  suffering  from 
acute  political  indigestion,  which  had  regularly  caused  it 
discomfort  and  ultimately  brought  it  to  an  untimely  end. 

Throughout  its  career,  the  Whig  party  was  a  minority 
party  in  the  state,  but  a  minority  party  of  sufficient  strength 
to  cause  the  opposition  considerable  alarm.  Rarely  did  it 
succeed  in  carrying  an  election.  Two  of  its  five  electoral 
tickets,  the  one  in  1840  by  a  majority  of  less  than 
350,  and  the  other  in  1848  by  a  majority  of  2,400  and  a 
plurahty  of  13,500,  were  elected.  Of  their  gubernatorial 
candidates,  the  Whigs  succeeded  in  electing  only  William  F. 
Johnston,  in  1848,  and  that  by  a  narrow  majority  of  225. 
Ritner,  the  Anti-Masonic  candidate  in  1835,  was  supported 
by  the  Whigs  and  was  elected  as  the  result  of  the  split  in 
the  Democratic  party.  The  election  of  James  Pollock  in 
1854,  the  W^hig  nominee,  was  made  possible  only  because 
of  the  support  of  the  Know  Nothings  and  was  by  no  means 
an  indication  of  Whig  vitality.  The  political  upheaval  in 
1846  made  the  election  of  a  Whig  canal  commissioner  a  cer- 
tainty, just  as  the  election  of  1848  made  the  choice  of  a 
United  States  Senator  by  the  Whig  legislature  an  actuality. 
The  weakness  of  the  party  made  impossible  the  appearance 
of  a  powerful  office-holding  Whig,  capable  of  using  the  pat- 
ronage to  build  up  a  strong  political  machine.  For  a  time. 
Governor  Johnston  offered  some  hope,  but  his  leadership 
was  immediately  threatened  by  Senator  Cooper  and  the 
free-soil  tendencies  of  the  governor  alienated  s}Tnpathizers 
with  the  South.  The  southerners  themselves  tried  to  pre- 
vent the  use  of  the  federal  patronage  toi  strengthen  the  posi- 
tion of  the  governor.  His  defeat  for  reelection  in  185 1 
eliminated  the  strongest  leader  the  party  had  developed  in 
Pennsylvania  and  left  it  with  a  discredited  head. 

At  the  formation  of  the  Whig  party,  there  seemed  to  be 


^7]         CHARACTERISTICS  OF  THE  WHIG  PARTY  24I 

presented  an  issue  which  would  sharply  divide  Whigs  from 
Democrats.  The  hostihty  of  President  Jackson  to  the  Bank 
of  the  United  States  and  the  means  used  by  him  to  crush  it 
lent  themselves  readily  to  political  agitation.  Although  en- 
thusiasm for  the  bank  was  connected  with  cries  of  "  execu- 
tive usurpation,"  nevertheless  progress,  sufficient  to  carry 
the  election,  was  not  made.  The  election  of  Ritner  in  the 
following  year  prevented  the  elimination  of  the  banking 
question,  for  the  bank  received  a  state  charter.  At  best,  it 
was  hoped  that  this  would  be  a  mere  temporary  expedient, 
and,  at  worst,  not  wholly  undesirable;  for,  if  the  Whigs 
should  be  successful  in  the  presidential  election  of  1836 
or  of  1840,  the  state  charter  might  be  converted  into  a 
national  one.  Two  features  of  the  act  granting  the  state 
charter  proved  to  be  extremely  disadvantageous  to  the  state. 
The  repeal  of  the  direct  taxes,  intended  to  be  nothing  more 
than  a  beautiful  gesture  to  attract  attention  to  the  Whig- 
Anti-Masonic  coalition,  resulted  in  the  temporary  financial 
bankruptcy  of  the  state.  The  lavish  expenditure  of  the 
money  received  for  the  charter  secured  the  needed  votes 
to  obtain  the  passage  of  the  bill,  but  did  not  bring  the  hoped- 
for  permanent  support.  The  act,  however,  pledged  the 
state  to  construct  extensions  of  the  public  works  which 
burdened  it  by  their  unprofitableness.  The  continued  ex- 
istence of  the  dreaded  money  mcMiopoly,  now  a  state  cor- 
poration, did  not  tend  to  assuage  the  fears  of  the  people  of 
the  interior  of  the  state.  The  business  depression  begiiming 
in  1837  and  the  numerous  suspensions  of  the  banks  kept  the 
question  of  finance  prominently  in  the  fr.reground  for  a 
number  of  years.  The  Whigs  attempted  to  avoid  respon- 
sibility for  the  plight  in  which  their  policy  had  put  the  state. 
It  was  only  after  the  final  failure  of  the  Bank  of  the  United 
States  and  the  recovery  of  the  country  from  the  industrial 
depression  that  other  issues  demanded  more  attention. 


242  THE  WHIG  PARTY  IN  PENNSYLVANIA  [488 

In  the  early  forties,  the  question  which,  so  far  as  the 
state    was    concerned,    attracted    most    attention    was    the 
tariff.     Between  the  two  parties  there  was  no  line  of  de- 
marcation on  this  issue.     The  Tariff  Bill  of  1842,  although 
not  conceding  all  that  the  ardent  protectionists  demanded, 
did  not  receive  an  adverse  vote  from  a  Pennsylvania  Con- 
gressman in  its  passage  through  the  house.     In  the  election 
of  1844  both  parties  claimed  to  be  the  ardent  friends  and 
guardians   of    this   measure.     Widely    separated   positions 
were  taken  on  the  question  of  the  annexation  of  Texas,  with 
the  Democrats  favoring  and  the  Whigs  opposing  it.     The 
admission  of  Texas  was  an  accomplished  fact  before  the 
tariff  received  consideration.     When  the  bill  of   1846  pas- 
sed the  Senate,  the  two  Senators  from  Texas  made  the 
passage  of  the  bill  possible  by  their  votes.     No  extensive 
argument  was  required  to  convince  the  Whigs  of  the  state 
that  the  tariff  had  been  tampered  with  on  the  insistence  of 
the  slave-owners  that  less  protection  was  needed.     For  a 
time,  even  the  Democrats,  stimned  by  the  passage  of  the 
bill,  joined  in  the  retaliatory  action  of  the  state  against 
slavery.     They  participated  in  the  passage  of  the  act  of 
March  3,  1847,  forbidding  the  use  of  the  state  jails  for  the 
detention  of  captured  fugitive  slaves,  and  in  adopting  re- 
solutions endorsing  the  Wilmot  Proviso.     By  the  election 
of  1848  the  Democrats  of  the  state  had  partially  recovered 
from  their  panic  and  willingly  followed  the  national  party 
in    the   pro-slavery    principles   which    it   enunciated.     The 
national  Whig  party   failed  to  adopt  a  platform  for  this 
election ;  consequently  it  was  possible  for  the  state  parties 
to  take   individual  lines   of   departure.     In   Pennsylvania, 
the  Whig  party,  continuing  its  opposition  to  the  extension 
of  slavery,  was  completely  under  the  control  of  the  free-soil 
element.     Although  all  the  elements  of  decay  were  present 
in  the  national  Whig  party  in  the  election  oi  1848,  yet  they 


489]         CHARACTERISTICS  OF  THE  WHIG  PARTY  243 

did  not  become  fully  manifest  until  the  succeeding  election. 
By  that  time,  it  was  evident  that  the  state  parties  had 
wandered  so  far  apart  that  no  common  meeting  ground 
could  be  agreed  upon,  and  that  the  scattering  of  the  member- 
ship must  follow.  The  efforts  of  the  American  party  to 
frame  a  platform  acceptable  to  the  divergent  elements  were 
likewise  unsuccessful.  With  the  appearance  of  the  Repub- 
lican party  and  its  adoption  of  understandable  principles, 
new  life  was  infused  into  the  opposition  to  the  Democracy. 

One  naturally  expects  to  find  the  wealthy  merchants  and 
manufacturers  rallying  to  the  Whig  standard.  Thomas  P. 
Cope,  whose  commercial  ventures  were  made  in  all  parts 
of  the  globe  and  who  founded  one  of  the  first  regular  lines  of 
packets  between  the  United  States  and  Europe,  and  John 
Price  Wetherill,  who  left  "  a  large  fortune,  prdmbly  near 
a  millioTf,"  made  in  manufacturing,  assume  positions  of 
leadership  in  the  ranks  of  the  party  in  Philadelphia.  The 
leaders  of  the  Philadelphia  Bar,  John  Sergeant  and  Horace 
Binney,  closely  associated  with  the  mercantile  and  the  vested 
interest  classes,  occasionally  found  time  to  leave  their  lucra- 
tive practice  and  accept  political  ofifice.  That  the  Whigs* 
were  in  control  of  the  banking  interests  of  the  state  was 
the  conclusion  reached  by  an  analysis  of  the  officials  of 
these  institutions  made  by  a  Democratic  journal.  The 
majority  of  the  manufacturers  of  iron  took  their  stand  in 
the  Whig  ranks ;  occasionally,  however,  due  to  the  avowetl 
protective  tariff  principles  of  the  Democracy,  a  manufac- 
turer, who  started  life  as  a  Democrat,  did  not  abandon  his 
party  upon  the  acquisition  of  wealth.  In  the  thinly  settled 
mountainous  districts,  the  halting  policy  of  the  Democracy 
on  the  tariff  question  was  early  and  consistently  condemned. 
One  of  their  journals  criticized  Governor  W(>lf.  a  Demo 
crat.  as  follows : 


244  ^^^^  WHIG  PARTY  IX  PENNSYLVANIA  [490 

See  his  annual  message  to  tlie  Legislature  in  favor  of  tienry 
Clay's  "American  System,"  the  "  Protective  Tariff,"  so  called, 
which  extorted  from  the  working  people  $35,000,000  a  year, 
and  lavished  a  great  part  of  it  upon  favorites,  and  the  rank 
aristocracy  of  the  cities,  under  the  name  of  protection.^ 

In  1846,  a  Democrat  from  this  section  was  the  only  one 
of  the  Rqjresentatives  from  the  state  who  dared  vote  for 
the  Tariff  Bill  of  1846.  Despite  his  vote,  or  possibly  be- 
cause of  it,  he  was  triumphantly  reelected. 

The  evaluation  of  the  property  in  the  counties  of  the 
state  for  the  purposes  of  taxation  gives  interesting  informa- 
tion on  the  prosperity  of  the  Whig  counties.  The  data  for 
1 85 1,  when  there  were  sixty-four  counties,  seventeen  of 
which  w^ere  normally  Whig,  is  somewhat  fuller  tlian  tliat 
for  other  periods."  Philadelphia  city,  in  addition  to  the 
seventeen  counties,  w^as  regularly  carried  by  the  Whigs 
and  the  county  by  the  Democrats,  where  the  Whigs,  how- 
ever, ahvays  showed  considerable  strength.  The  statistics 
for  the  county  and  the  city  are  unfortunately  not  separated. 
Although  Philadelphia  city  and  county  contained  less  than 
eighteen  per  cent  of  the  population,  yet  they  possessed 
almost  twenty-eight  per  cent  of  the  evaluated  property  of 
the  state.  Omitting  Philadelphia  city  and  coimty  and 
arranging  tlie  other  counties  of  the  state  according  to  popu- 
lation, it  is  seen  tliat  fifteen  of  the  first  thirty-three  counties 
are  normally  Whig.  If  they  are  arranged  according  to  the 
evakiation  of  their  property  thirteen  of  the  first  thirty-three 
are  Whig.  A  difference  is  noted,  for  in  the  second  classi- 
fication the  Whig  counties  are  nearer  the  head  of  the  list. 
The  seventeen  Whig  counties — Philadelphia  city  and 
county  are  omitted — contained  somewhat  more  that  thirty- 

^  Democratic    State    Journal,    May    11,    1835,    quoting    Wilkesbarre 
Farmer. 

» House  Journal,  1852,  vol.  ii,  pp.  136-137. 


^^^l]         CHARACTERISTICS  OF  THE  WHIG  I'ARTY  245 

five  per  cent  of  the  population  but  a  tritie  less  than  furty- 
three  per  cent  of  the  wealth.  If  Philadelphia  city  and/ 
county  are  included,  the  Whig  counties  contained  somewhat 
over  fifty-eight  per  cent  of  the  population  and  over  eighty- 
one  per  cent  of  the  wealth.  The  Whigs  were  thus  in  con- 
trol of  the  more  prosperous  counties  of  the  state.  In  the 
more  prosperous  of  the  normal  Democratic  counties,  with 
the  exception  of  Berks,  the  Whigs  possessed  a  strong  fol- 
lowing, at  times  well  over  forty  per  cent  of  the  voters. 
Fertile  Berks,  settled  by  Germans,  was  the  fourth  coimty 
of  the  state  in  population  and  in  wealth.  The  voters  had 
been  won  over  early  by  the  Democratic-Republican  party, 
later  worshipped  Andrew  Jackson,  and  the  imj)erturl>able 
"  Pennsylvania  LXitch "  farmers  never  failed  to  roll  up 
large  Democratic  majorities.  The  voters,  due  to  the 
absence  of  a  sectarian  appeal,  had  been  untouched  by  the 
Anti-Masonic  movement  and  consecjuently  remained  true  to 
their  Democratic  faith.  The  conclusion  is  almost  inevitable 
that  although  the  Whig  party  did  not  include  all  the  people 
of  wealth  in  the  state,  yet  the  vast  majority  of  those  pos- 
sessing vested  interests  felt  that  the  Whig  party  offered 
them  more  protection  than  did  the  opposition  party- 

From  the  foundation  of  the  Whig  party,  the  Democrats 
claimed  that  the  policy  of  their  opponents  was  to  favor  the 
wealthier  classes.  One  of  their  journals  at  the  capital  as- 
serted. 

The  Whig,  resting  government  on  wealth,  lays  the  foundation 
of  a  monied  aristocracy ;  Democracy,  resting  government  on 
the  intelligence  and  morality  of  the  masses,  establishes  the 
supremacy  of  the  people,  and  opens  the  way  to  the  principality 
of  virtue.^ 

At    its    foundation,    the   Whig    Party,    particularly    in   the 
^Democratic  State  Journal,  December  8.  1835. 


246  THE  WHIG  PARTY  IN  PENNSYLVANIA  [492 

counties  of  the  interior,  claimed  for  itself  true  democratic 
principles,  in  some  instances,  as  has  been  seen,  asserting 
tliat  the  party  was  based  on  the  foundations  laid  by  Jefferson. 
During  the  first  decade  of  its  existence,  these  claims  gradu- 
ally disappeared.  The  statement  of  the  Peniisyhania  Tele- 
graph, that  "  Whig  policy  is  democratic  without  being  re- 
volutionary; conservative  in  opposition  to  agrarian,"  ^  may 
be  taken  as  a  typical  view  of  themselves  during  the  second 
decade.  The  tendency  to  stress  the  fact  that  the  party  was 
conservative  appeared  more  strongly  with  the  passage  of 
time.  When  the  death  rattle  was  in  the  throat  of  the 
Whig  party,  one  of  the  more  consen^ative  of  the  Whig 
journals  said,  in  reply  to  the  assertions  that  the  Whig  party 
was  dead, 

Indeed,  not  only  is  the  Whig  party  still  alive,  but,  in  one  sense 
at  least,  it  can  never  die.  A  party  composed  of  similar  ma- 
terials to  that  which  rallied  around  Clay  and  Webster  must 
always  exist  in  this  country  under  one  name  or  another.  For 
it  is  the  representative  of  the  more  highly  educated,  the  more 
prudent,  and  the  wealthier  classes,  combined,  if  you  will,  with 
the  more  aristocratic.  Thousands,  who  start  life  as  Demo- 
crats, end  by  deserting  to  this  party,  because,  with  age,  the 
illusions  of  youth  disappear,  and  faith  grows  cold. 

The  editor  thought  that  the  Whigs  had  been  in  the  minority 
because  the  country  was  young,  but  as  it  grew  older  the 
Whigs  would  predominate."  Hardly  had  these  predictions 
been  made,  when  many  of  the  conservative  "  old  line " 
Whigs,  alarmed  at  the  radicalism  of  the  new  American  and 
the  newer  Republican  parties  and  realizing  that  their  old 
organization  had  passed  on  to  its  political  rew^ard.  found 
refuge  in  the  ranks  of  the  Democrats  because  they  con- 
sidered it  the  only  conser^'ative  party. 

1  August  3,  1847. 

'Evening  Bulletin,  August  15,  1853. 


I.  CRITICAL  BIBOjIOGRAPHY  i 

Manuscripts 

Papers  of  Nicholas  Biddle;  Library  of  Congress.  Valuable  for  the 
political  activities  of  the  bank  officers  and  agents. 

Papers  of  Nicholas  Biddle;  Historical  Society  of  Pennsylvania.  Con- 
cerned primarily  with  the  business  of  the  bank. 

Papers  of  James  Buchanan ;  Hist.  Soc.  of  Penna.  A  large  and 
valuable  collection  of  letters  from  the  leading  Democrats  of  the 
state  and  many  drafts  of  letters  from  Buchanan. 

Papers  of  Lewis  S.  Coryell ;  Hist.  Soc.  of  Penna.  Letters  from 
many  anti-Buchanan  Democrats. 

Papers  of  Edward  McPherson;  Lib.  of  Cong.  A  few  letters  from 
Whigs  which  are  of  value. 

Papers  of  William  McPherson;  Hist.  Soc.  of  Penna.  Chiefly  letters 
to  Joseph  Wallace,  for  a  time  chairman  of  the  state  Anti-Masonic 
party,  which  show  the  trend  of  that  party  during  the  period  1S32 
to  1&44. 

Papers  of  Joseph  Ritner ;  State  Library  of  Pennsylvania.  Chiefly 
petitions,  of  little  value. 

Papers  of  John  Sergeant;  Hist.  Soc.  of  Pemia.  Nothing  of  value  for 
this  period. 

Society  Collection;  Hist.  Soc.  of  Penna.  Isolated  letters  of  consider- 
able value. 

Papers  of  Thaddeus  Stevens;  Lib.  of  Con^.  Contain  some  material 
of  value. 

Papers  of  Governor  George  Wolf;  State  Lib.  of  Penna.  Chiefly 
petitions  and  memorials  of  no  great  value. 

Papers  of  Governor  George  Wolf;  Hist.  Soc.  of  Penna.  A  few 
Democratic  letters  of  value. 

Published  Works  .\nd  Correspondence 

Kelley,  William  D..  Speeches,  Addresses  and  Letters  on  Industrial  and 
Financial  Questions.  Philadelphia,  1872.  The  introduction  is  the 
most  valuable  portion  of  the  volume. 

^  The  critical  Iiibliography  is  limited  to  Pennsylvania  material,  inas- 
much as  many  biblingraphies  on  the  .v^em-ral  fuld  are  available.  .\ 
non-critical  bibliography  of  other  cited  materi.il  i-;  added. 

493]  -M7 


248  BIBLIOGRAPHY  [494 

McGrane,  Reginald  C,  editor,  The  Correspondence  of  Nicholas  BiddU 
dealing  unth  National  Affairs,  1807-1844.  Boston,  1919.  Very 
valuable  for  the  activity  of  the  bank  officials  in  the  early  years  of 
the  party. 

Moore,  John  Bassett,  editor.  The  Works  of  James  Buchanan  com- 
prising his  Speeches,  State  Papers,  and  Private  Correspondence. 
12  vols.  Philadelphia,  190S-1911.  Extremely  valuable  for  the  hght 
thrown  on  the  Whig  party  by  the  activities  and  views  of  the 
leader  of  their  opponents. 

Documents 

Laws   of   Pennsylvania,    1834-1856.     Harrisburg,    1834-1856. 

Journals  of  the  Senate  of  Penmylvania,  1834-1856.  Harrisburg,  1834- 
1856. 

Journals  of  the  House  of  Representatives  of  Pennsylvania.  Harris- 
burg, 1834-1856. 

Executive  Documents  of  the  Legislature  of  Pennsylvania,  1843-1856. 
Harrisburg,   1843-1856. 

Legislative  Documents  of  Pennsylvania,  1854-1856.  Harrisburg,  1854- 
1856. 

Pennsylvania  Archives,  series  iv,  "  Papers  of  the  Governors."  12  vols. 
Harrisburg,  1900-1902.  The  collection  is  incomplete  and  unsatis- 
factory. 

Proceedings  and  Debates  of  the  Convention  of  the  Commonwealth  of 
Pennsylvania  to  propose  Amendments  to  the  Constitution,  com- 
menced and  held  at  Harrisburg,  an  the  second  day  of  May,  1837. 
14  vols.    Harrisburg,  1837- 1839. 

Journal  of  the  Convention  of  the  State  of  Pennsylvania  to  propose 
Amendments  to  the  Constitution.     2  vols.  Harrisburg,  1837-1838. 

Minutes  of  the  Committee  of  the  Whole,  of  the  Convention  of  the 
State  of  Pennsylvania,  to  propose  Amendments  to  the  Constitution. 
Bound  with  the  Journal  of  the  Convention. 

Clark,  John  A.,  Pennsylvania  I^aw  Journal  Reports,  containing  Cases 
decided  by  the  Federal  and  State  Courts  of  Pennsylvania.  5  vols. 
Philadelphia,  1872-73.  Volumes  iv  and  v  contain  cases  on  the 
constitutionality  of  the  .^ct  of  March  3,  1847,  and  others  involving 
interference  with  the  enforcement  of  the  Fugitive  Slave  Law. 

The  Federal  Cases,  comprising  Cases  argued  and  determined  in  the 
Circuit  and  District  Courts  of  the  United  States,  from  the  earliest 
times  to  the  beginning  of  the  Federal  Reporter.  Case  No.  5243, 
a  Pennsylvania  case,  is  the  first  one  arising  under  the  Fugitive 
Slave  Law.  31  vols.  St.  Paul,  1894-98. 

Parsons,  A.  V.,  Select  Cases  in  Equity  and  at  Law,  argued  and  de- 
termined in  the  Court  of  Common  Pleas  of  the  First  Judicial  Dis- 


495]  BIBLIOGRAPHY  249 

trUt  of  Pennsyhvitiia  from  184^51.  2  vols.  Philadelphia,  1888.  Con- 
tains the  proceedings  in  the  trial  of  George  Alberti  for  kidnaping. 

Reports  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  Pennsylvania.  Volumes  xxvi  and 
xxxix  contain  cases  arising  out  of  the  detention  of  Passmore 
Williamson. 

Reports  of  the  Supreme  Ccyurt  of  the  United  States.  16  Peters  for 
Prigg  V.  Pennsylvania. 

Wallace,  Henry  E.,  Philadelphia  Reports,  or  Legal  Intelligencer  con- 
densed; containing  the  Decisions  published  in  the  Legal  Intelli- 
gencers. Volume  i  (Philadelphia,  1856)  for  the  trial  of  escaped 
negroes  at  Harrisburg. 

Wallace,  John  William,  Cases  in  the  Circuit  Court  of  the  United 
States  for  the  Third  Circuit.  3  vols.  Philadelphia,  1849-71.  The 
treason  trials,  arising  out  of  the  Christiana  riot,  are  in  volume  ii. 

Smull's  Legislative  Hand-Book  and  Manual  of  the  State  of  Pennsyl- 
vania, 1919.     Harrisburg,  1919. 

Newspapers  1 
a.  independent 

Public  Ledger,  Philadelphia.  1836-1857;  Hrst.  Soc.  of  Penna, ;  State 
Lib. ;  N.  Y.  Pub.  Lib. 

The  Register  of  Pennsylvania,  devoted  to  the  Preservation  of  Facts 
and  Documents,  and  every  other  Kind  of  Useful  Information  re- 
sp^ct\ng  the  State  of  Pennsylvania,  edited  by  Samuel  Hazard, 
Philadelphia,    1828-1835. 

Hazard's  United  States  Commercial  and  Statistical  Register,  con- 
taining Documents,  Facts,  and  other  Useful  Information,  illustra- 
tive of  the  History  and  Resources  of  the  American  Union,  and 
of  each  State,  Philadelphia.  1839-1842. 

Morning   Chronicle,   Pittsburgh.     1842-1856;    Pittsburgh    Carnegie   Lib. 

Anthracite  Gazette  and  Schuylkill  County  Advocate,  Pottsville.  May- 
Dec,  1847;  Lib.  of  Cong. 

B.  ANTI-MASONIC,   WHIG,   AND   AMERICAN 

Butler  County  Whig,  Butler.     1846-1851,   N.  Y.   Hist.  Soc.;   1846-185^ 

Pitt.  Car.  Lib. 
Carlisle  Herald,  Carlisle.     185^-1856,  Lib.  of  Cong. 
Franklin  Whig,  Chambersburg.     1835- 1840.  State  Lib. 
Franklin  Repository,  Chambersburg.     1834- 1840,  State  Lib. 

1  The  arrangement   is  alphabetical   according  to  the  place  of  publi- 
cation. 


250  BIBLIOGRArHY  [^^5 

Repository   and    Whig,   Chambersburg.     1842,    State    Lib. ;    1854,    Hist. 

Soc.  of  Peniia. 
Germantown  Telegraph,  Germantown.     1834-1856,  Hist.  Soc.  of  Penna. 
Westmoreland  Intelligencer,  Greensburg.     1850-1856,  State  Lib. 
Daily  Ainerican,  Marrisburg.     Dec.  1850-May  1851,  State  Lib. 
Clay  Bugle,  Harrisburg.     Jan. -Oct.,   1844,  State  IJb. 
tlarrisburg  Chronicle,  Harrisburg.     1834-1840.  State  Lib. 
Old  Warrior,  Harrisburg.     1844,  State  Lib. 
Pennsylvania  Intelligencer,  Harrisburg.     1834- 1844,  State  Lib. 
Fennsylvania   Telegraph,  Harrisburg.     1834-1856,  S^ate  Lib.;  1851-1853. 

Lib.  of  Gong. 
Whig  State  Journal,  Harrisburg.     1851-1853.  State  Lib. 
The  Watchman,  Harrisburg.    June-Oct.,  1841,  State  Lib. 
Inland  Daily,  Lancaster.     1854,  State  Lib. 
Lancaster  Examiner  and  Herald,  Lancaster.    Jan. -June,    1847,  Lib.  of 

Cong. 
Lancaster  Union  and  Tribune,  iLancaster.     1847,  Lib.  of  Cong. 
Lebanon  Courier,  Lebanon.     1850-1856,  Hist.  Soc.  of  Penna. 
Daily    Chronicle,    Philadelphia.     1840-1843,    1&45-1846.    Hist.    Soc.    of 

Penna. 
Daily  Forum,  Philadelphia.     A  few  numbers,  1843-1844,  N.  Y.  Pub.  Lib. 
Evening   Bulletin,    Philadelphia.     1847-1848,   Lib.   of    Gong.;    1850-1856. 

State  Lib. 
National  Gazette,  Philadelphia.     1834-1841,  State  Lib.;  Lib.  of  Cong. 
North  American,  Philadelphia.     1839-1856,  Hist.  Soc.  of  Penna.;   1840- 

1856,  Lib.  of  Cong.;  1847-1855,  State  iLib.;   1855-1856,  N.  Y.  Pub. 

Lib. 
Pennsylvania  Inquirer,  Philadelphia.     1833-1834,  State  Lib.;  1834,  1840- 

1846,  1850,  1852,  Hist.  Soc.  of  Penna.;  1&45-1852,  Lib.  of  Cong. 
Daily  News,  Philadelphia.     1849-1850,  1853-1856,  Lib.  of  Gong. 
United   States   Gazette,   Philadelphia.     1834-1838,    1840-1841,    1844-1847, 

State  Lib.;  1842-1844,  Lib.  of  Gong. 
Daily  Commercial  Journal.    Pittsburgh.     1845-1850,    1852-1853,   Lib.   of 

Gong. 
Pittsburgh  Daily  Dispatch,  Pittsburgh.     1847-1850,  1855-1856,  Pitt.  Car. 

Lib. 
Pittsburgh  Daily  Gazette,  Pittsburgh.     1834-1856.  Pitt.  Car.  Lib.;  1849- 

1851,  Lib.  of  Cong. 
Pittsburgh  Evening   Telegraph.   Pittsburgh.     1847-1848,   Pitt.   Car.  Lib. 
Pittsburgh  Mercury,  Pittsburgh.     1835-1842,  Pitt.  Car.  Lib. 
Miners'  Journal,  Pottsville.     1841-1850,  Hist.  Soc.  of  Penna.;  1842-1843, 

1845-1856,  Lib.  of  Cong. 


^97]  BIBLIOGRAPHY  25 1 

C    DEMOat,\TIC 

Der  Friedcnsbote,  AUentowni.     1834-1843,  Hist.   Soc.  of   Ptaina. 
Dcr  Lecha  Patriot,  Allentown.     1841-1856,  Hist.  Soc.  of  Penna. 
Lehigh  Reporter,  Allentown.     1846-1848,  Hist.  Soc.  of  Penna. 
Bedford  Gazette,  Bedford.     1834-1856,  State  Lib. 

Perry  County  Democrat,  Bloomfield.  1841-1847.  Hist.  Soc.  of  Penna. 
Perry  County  Standard,  Bloomfield.  1844-1846,  Hist.  Soc.  of  Penna. 
American    Volunteer,  Carlisle.     1835-1851,   State  Lib.;   1846-1848,    1852- 

1856,  Lib.  of  Cong. 
Upland  Union,  Chester.     1834- 1843,  State  Lib. 
Doylestown   Democrat   and  Bucks  County   Gazette,   Uoylestown.    1847. 

State  Lib. 
Easton  Daily  Express,  Easton.     1856,  Hist.  Soc.  of  Penna. 
Republican  Compiler,  Gettysburg.     1847-1848,  Lib.  of  Cong. 
Greensburg  Democrat,  Greensburg.     1854- 1856,  State  Lib. 
American  Herald,  Greensburg.     1854-1856,  State  Lib. 
Democratic  State  Journal.  Harrisburg.     1835-1837,  State  Lib. 
Democratic  Union.  Harrisburg.     1843-1849,  State  Lib.;   1843-1845,  Hist. 

Soc.  of  Penna.;  1845-1848,  Lib.  of  Cong. 
Harrisburg  Argus,  Harrisburg.     1845-1848,  Lib.  of  Cong. 
Die  Harrisburger  Morgenrothe,   Harrisburg.     1834-1840.  State  Lib. 
The    Keystone,    Harrisburg.     1836-1843,    1848-1856,    State    Lib.;    1839- 

1843,  Lib.  of  Cong. 
Morning  Herald  and  Harrisburg  Daily  Herald,  Harrisburg,     1853-1856, 

State  Lib. 
Pennsylvania  Reporter,  Harrisburg.     1834-1846,   State  Lib.;    1836-184.^ 

Hist.  Soc.  of  Penna.;  1837-1840,  Lib.  of  Cong. 
Pennsylvania  Stoats  Zeitung,  Harrisburg.     1843-1848,  State  Lib. 
State  Capital  Gazette,  Harrisburg.     1839-1843,   State  Lib. 
Lancaster   Intelligencer,    Lancaster.     1834-1852,    State    Lib.;    1847-1848, 

Lib.  of  Cong. 
Lancastcrian  and  Chronicle  of  the  Times,  Lancaster.     1848-1855.  State 

Lib. 
Lebanon  Advertiser,  Lebanon.     1849-1856,  State  Lib. 
Lewisburg  Chronicle,  Lewisburg.     1851-1856,  Hist.  Soc.  of  Penna. 
The  Advocate,  Lewistown.     1840-1843.  State  Lib. 
Lezi'istou'n    Republican    and    Mifflin    County    IVorkingmen's   Adi'ocate, 

Lewistown.     1840-1844,  State  Lib. 
Manayunk  Courier,  Manayunk.     1848,  Hist.  Soc.  of  Penna. 
Marietta  Advocate  and  Farmers'  and  Mechanics'  Intelligencer.  Marietta. 

1834-1835,  State  Lib. 
Crawford  Democrat   and    Sorthzvcstern   Advertiser,    Nfeadville.     1835- 

1847,  State  Lib. 


252  BIBLIOGRAPHY  [^C^g 

Crawford  Messenger,  Meadville.     1834-1835,  State  Lib. 

Juniata  Register,  Mifflintown.     1849- 1851,  State  Lib. 

Tuscorora  Register  and  Juniata   County  Inquirer,   Mifflintown.     1852- 

1855,  State  Lib. 
Norristozvn  Register,  Norri'Stown,     1843M1849,   1854-1856,  Hist  Soc.  of 

Penna. ;  1847-1848,  Lib.  of  Cong. 
Sorristown  Watchman,  Norristown.     1849-1851,  Hist.  Soc.  of  Penna. 
American  Advocate,  Philadelphia.     1844-1845,  N.  Y.  Pub.  Lib. 
American  Courier,  Philadelphia.     1847-1852,  Lib.  of  Cong. 
American  Sentinel,  Philadelphia.     1840-1847,  State  Lib.;  1845-1846,  Lib. 

of  Cong. 
Daily  Keystone  and  People's  Journal,  Philadelphia.     1845-1847,  Lib.  of 

Cong. 
Daily  Register,  Philadelphia.     1851,  Hist.  Soc.  of  Penna. 
Democratic  Argus,  Philadelphia.     1843-1844,  Hist.  Soc.  of  Penna. 
The  Pennsylvanian,  Philadelphia.     1834-1856,  Lib.  of  Cong.;  Hist.  Soc. 

of  Penna.;  1846- 1856.  State  Lib. 
Spirit   of  the   Times,   Philadelphia.     1838-1845,   1847-184Q,    State   Lib.; 

1842,  1844-1845,  Hist.  Soc  of  Penna.;  1845-1848.  Lib.  of  Cong. 
Der  Freiheits  Freund,  Pittsburgh.     1844-1856,  Pitt.  Car.  Lib. 
The  Morning  Ariel,  Pittsburgh.     1845,  Lib.  of  Cong. 
Pittsburgh  Post,  Pittsburgh.     1842-1856,  Pitt.  Car.  Lib.;  1845,  1847-1848, 

1853- 1856,  Lib.  of  Cong. 
Pottsville  Emporium,  Pottsville.     1847-1848,  Lib.  of  Cong. 
Alt  Berks,  Reading.     1841-1844,  Hist.  Soc  of  Penna. 
.Democratic  Press,  Reading.     1835- 1840,  State  Lib. 
Der  Liberate  Beobachter,  Reading.     1839-1856,  Hist.  Soc  of  Penna. 
Reading  Gazette,  Reading.     1843-1848,  State  Lib. 
Bradford  Reporter,  Towanda.     1845- 1847,  1850- 1852,  State  Lib. 
The  American  Republican  and  Chester  County  Democrat,  West  Chester. 

1 847- 1 848,  Lib.  of  Cong. 
Lucerne  Democrat,  Wilkes-Barre.     1847-1848,  Lib.  of  Cong. 
Republican  Farmer  and  Democratic  Journal,  Wilkes-Barre.     1835-1847, 

State  Lib. 
York  Gazette,  York.     1847-1848,  Lib.  of  Cong. 

D.    N.MIVE  AMERICAN 

American  Press  and  Republican,  Lancaster.     1846-1848,  Lib.  of  Cong. 

Native  American,  Philadelphia.     1844,  N.  Y.  Hist.   Soc 

Native  Eagle,  Philadelphia.     A  few  numbers  in  1845-1846,  N.  Y.  Pub. 

Lib. 
The   Sun,    Philadelphia.     1846-1847,    1851-1852,    Hist.    Soc    of    Penna.; 

1849-1850,  Lib.  of  Cong. 


^g^j  BIBLIOGRAPHY  253 

Pamphlets  and  Speeches  ^ 

Meredith,  William  M.,  An  Oration  delivered  by  request  before  the 
IVhigs  of  Philadelphia,  on  the  fourth  of  July,  1834.     Philadelphia, 

1834- 

Proceedings  of  a  Convention  of  the  Delegates  from  the  Citisens  of 
Fennsylvania,  opposed  to  Executive  Usurpation  and  Abuse,  which 
assembled  at  Harrtsburg^  May  27,  1834.    Harrisburg,   1834. 

Proceedings  of  the  Democratic  State  Convention^  which  assembled  at 
Lezi-istown,  on  Wednesday,  May  6,  1835.     Harrisburg  1S35. 

Proceedings  of  the  Democratic  Republican  Convention  of  Young  Men 
of  the  State  of  Pennsylvania,  held  at  Harrisburg,  July  4,  1836. 
Harrisburg,  1836. 

Opinion  of  the  Hon.  John  Fox,  President  Judge  of  the  Judicial  Dis- 
trict composed  of  the  Counties  of  Bucks  and  Montgomery,  against 
the  Exercise  of  Negro  Suffrage  in  Pennsylvania.     Harrisburg,  1838. 

Appeal  of  Forty  Thousand  Citizens,  threatened  with  Disfranchise- 
ment, to  the  People  of  Pennsyhania.     Philadelphia,  1838. 

Burden,  Jesse  R.,  Retnarks  of  Dr.  /.  R.  Burden,  of  Philadelphia  Co., 
in  the  Senate  of  Pennsylvania,  on  the  Abolition  Question,  Febrtt- 
o^y,  1^3^-  ^^Iso  his  I'aleditory  Address  as  Speaker  of  the  Senate, 
April,  1838.     Philadelpliia,  1838. 

Sergeant,  John,  Speech  of  John  Sergeant  on  the  Judicial  Tenure, 
delivered  in  the  Convention  of  Pennsylvania  on  the  yth  and  8th 
November,  1837.     Philadelphia,   18^^. 

Proceedings  of  the  Whigs  of  Chester  County,  favourable  to  a  distinct 
Organisation  of  the  Whig  Party.     West  Giester,  1838. 

Proceedings  of  a  Convention  of  Democratic  Young  Men,  Delegates 
from  the  Citizens  of  Pennsylvania,  in  favour  of  the  Re-election 
of  Joseph  Ritncr,  and  opposed  to  Martin  Van  Buren  and  the  Sub- 
Treasury.     Assembled  at  Reading,  June  4,  18.^8.     Reading,  1S38. 

A  candid  Statement  of  th^  Philadelphia  County  Ticket.     (Harrisburg, 

1839) 

Penrose.  Charles  B.,  Address  of  the  Hon.  Charles  B.  Penrose,  Speaker 
of  the  Senate;  and  the  Speeches  of  .Messrs.  Fraley  {City),  /ri7- 
liams,  Pearson,  and  Penrose,  delivered  in  the  Senate  of  Pennsyl- 
vania, on  the  Subject  of  the  Insurrection  at  Harrisburg,  at  the 
Meeting  of  the  Legislature  in  December,  1S3S.     Harrisburg.  1S30. 

The  Buckshot  War;  or  the  last  Kick  of  .Inli-.Masonry.  .-i  Burlesque 
Medley — poetic,  prosaic,  humorous,  satirical,  etc.,  by  Peleg  Stur- 
tevant.     Harrisburg,  1839. 

Address  of  the  Democratic  Whig  .Association  of  the  City  and  County 

^  Arranged  rhronologically. 


254  BIBLIOGRAPHY  [5OO 

of  Philadelphia,  to  the  People  of  Pennsylvania.  April,  1839.  Phila- 
delphia, 1839. 

Proceedings  of  the  Democratic  Whig  State  Conveiition;  held  in  Cham- 
bersburg,  Pa.,  on  the  13th  and  14th  of  June,  J839.  Chambersburg, 
1839. 

The  Democratic  Medley,  or  Sayings  and  Doings,  with  the  History  of 
one  Day,  to  which  it  added  the  Whigs'  Light-House,  and  a  Trip 
through  the  Custom-House  and  Post-OfUce.  Calculated  for  the 
Meridian  of  Philadelphia,  by  a  Member  of  the  Democratic  Party. 
Philadelphia,    (1839)- 

Address  of  Citizens  of  Bradford  County,  formerly  opposed  to  Martin 
Van  Buren,  showing  why  they  now  prefer  him  to  Gen.  Harrison. 
Towanda,  1840. 

Proceedings  of  the  Democratic  State  Convention.     (Harrisburg,  1840.) 

Miner,  Charles,  An  Address,  delivered  at  the  Democratic  Whig  Festival, 
at  Wilkes-Barre,  Penn.,  December  4,  1840.  In  honour  of  the  Elec- 
tion of  Gen.  IV m.  Henry  Harrison.     Wilkes-Barre,  1841. 

To  the  Democratic  Party  of  Pennsylvania  on  the  next  Presidential 
Election,  by  Anthony  IVayne.     Philadelphia,  1841. 

Hare,  Robert,  A  brief  E.rposition  of  the  Injury  done  to  the  Com- 
munity, and  especially  to  the  Poor,  by  the  Prohibition  of  Bills 
under  Five  Dollars,  while  such  Bills  are  permitted  to  circulate  in 
adjoining  States.  In  a  Letter  to  William  B.  Reed,  Esq.,  also  a 
subsequent  Letter,  on  the  late  Failure  to  resume  Specie  Payments. 
To  which  is  annexed  a  Scheme  for  a  National  Currency.  Phila- 
delphia, 1841. 

Ritner,  Joseph,  Vindication  of  General  IVashington  from  the  Stigma 
of  Adherence  to  Secret  Societies  by  Joseph  Ritner To- 
gether ivith  a  letter  to  Daniel  IVebster  and  his  Reply.     Boston,  1S41. 

The  Life  of  General  Markle.    Philadelphia,  18144. 

Das  Leben  Generals  Joseph  Markle.     Philadelphia,  1844. 

Address  of  the  Democratic  Hickory  Club,  for  the  City  and  County  of 
Philadelphia,  recommending  Martin  Van  Buren  as  tJie  Presidential 
Candidate  for  1844.  Also  the  Letter  of  Mr.  Van  Buren  to  the 
State  Convention   of  Indiana.     (Philadelphia,    1844.) 

A  few  Remarks  in  behalf  of  the  Tariif  and  Currency,  with  a  brief 
Comparison  of  the  Merits  of  the  two  Candidates  for  the  Presi- 
dency, by  a  .Mechanic.     Philadelphia,  1844. 

One  Thousand  Dollars  Reward!  To  be  paid  if  the  Quotations  are 
not  those  of  Polk  on  the  Tariff.     Philadelphia.  (184-}). 

A  fetv  plain  Facts,  addressed  to  the  People  of  Pennsylvania,  by  a 
Citizen    of   Pennsylzvnia.     Philadelphia,    1844. 

Report  of  the  Discussion  at  Pottsville,  August  10,  1844,  betzveen  J.  G. 
Clarkson  and  F.  Jl'.  Hughes,  on  the  course  of  Henry  Clay  and  J. 
K.  Polk,  relative  to  the  Protective  System,  etc.     Philadelphia,  1844^ 


-Oi]  BIBLIOGRAPHY  255 

Causes  of  the  Kensington  Riots  explained,  in  a  Series  of  Letters  to 
the  Hon.  Daniel  O'Connell,  by  a  Pennsylvanian — a  Dutchman. 
Philadelphia,  1845. 

A  full  and  coynplete  Account  of  the  late  awful  Riots  in  Philadelphia. 
Philadelphia,  (1844). 

The  full  Particulars  of  the  late  Riots,  ufith  a  View  of  the  Burning 
of  the  Catholic  Churches,  St.  Michael's  and  St.  Augustine's. 
Philadelphia,  (1844)- 

A  brief  View  of  the  Origin  and  Object  of  the  Native  American  Party; 
by  a  Native  American.     Philadelphia,  1844. 

Preamble  and  By-Laws  of  the  Native  American  Central  Executive 
Committee  of  the  City  of  Philadelphia.     Philadelphia,  1844. 

Address  of  the  American  Republicans  of  the  City  of  Philadelphia  to 
the  Native  and  Naturalised  Citizens  of  the  United  States.  Phila- 
delphia, 1844. 

Moore,  Justus  E.,  The  Warning  of  Thomas  Jefferson:  or  a  brief  Ex- 
position of  the  Dangers  to  be  apprehended  to  our  civil  and  re- 
ligious Liberties,  from  Presbyterianism.     Philadelphia,   1844. 

Arguments  proving  the  Inconsistency  and  Impolicy  of  granting  to 
Foreigners  the  Right  of  Voting;  abstracted  from  a  Pamphlet  pub- 
lished in  the  Year  iSio;  by  a  Disciple  of  the  IVashington  School. 
Philadelphia,  1844. 

Pumroy,  John  N.,  A  Defence  of  our  Naturalization  Laws,  xvith  a 
friendly  IVarning  to  Members  of  the  Native  American  Party. 
Philadelphia,   1844. 

Street  Talk  about  a  Ordinance  of  Councils,  Passed  the  nth  July,  18-14, 
organizing  a  Military  Force  for  the  Government  of  Philadelphia, 
Philad'elphia,  1844. 

Proceedings  of  the  Native  American  State  Convention  held  at  Harris- 
burg  February  22,  1845.     Philadelphia,  1845. 

An  Address  to  the  Mechanics  and  Laboring  Men,  who  are  natiz'c  born 
Citizens  of  the  United  States,  with  Reasons  zvhy  they  ought  to 
tvithhold  their  Support  from  Men  who  seek  foreign  Aid.  To- 
gether unth  the  Principles  of  the  Native  American  Party,  as 
adopted  by  the  National  Convention  on  the  4th  of  July,  184^. 
( Phila<tclp'hia,  1845.) 

Declaration  of  Principles,  of  the  Native  .Unerican  Convention,  as- 
sembled at  Philadelphia,  July  4,  1845.     (Philadelphia.  1845.) 

Orr,  Hector,  The  Native  American:  a  Gift  for  the  People.     Philadel- 
phia, 1845. 
Whig  Anti-Subscription  Council  Ticket.     To  the  Whig   Voters  of  the 

City  of  Philadelphia.     Broadside.     Pliiladelphia.    (i84<'i) 
.•/   Letter  to  John  Jones,  John  Smith,  and  James  fUack.  F.sqs.,  on   the 
Subject  of  the  Right  of  the  City  of  Philadelphia  to  subscribe  for 


256  BIBLIOGRAPHY  [502 

Stock  in  the  Pcnnsyhiinia  Railroad  Company;  by  John  Doe,  Esq. 
Philadelphia,  1846. 

Address  of  the  Committee  opposed  to  Subscription.  (Philadelphia, 
1846.) 

Council  Ticket  favourable  to  th^e  Pennsylvania  Railroad.  Broadside. 
(Philadelphia.  1846.) 

Proceedings  of  the  Meeting  of  the  City  and  County  of  Philadelphia  in 
relation  to  the  great  Pennsylvania  Rail  Road,  from  Philadelphia 
via  Harrisburg  to  Pittsburgh,  with  the  Address  of  the  Committee, 
to  the  People  of  Pennsylvania.     Philadelphia,  1846. 

Binney,  Horace,  Opinion  of  Horace  Binney  upon  the  Right  of  the 
City  Councils  to  subscribe  for  Stock  in  the  Pennsylvania  Rail-Road' 
Company.     Philadelphia,  1846. 

Wharton,  Thomas  I.,  A  Letter  to  Robert  Poland  and  Isaac  Elliott, 
Esqr's.  on  the  Subject  of  the  Right  and  Power  of  the  City  of 
Philadelphia  to  subscribe  for  Stock  in  the  Pennsylvania  Railroad 
Company.     Philadelphia,  1846. 

The  Pennsylvania  Railroad  Address  of  the  Committee  of  Seven  to  the 
Citizens  of  Philadelphia  and  of  Pennsylvania  appointed  at  a  Town 
Meeting,  held  at  Philadelphia,  on  the  ^8th  of  April,  1846.  (Phila- 
delphia), 1846. 

The  Casting  Vote  of  Vice-President  Dallas  on  th-e  Tariff  of  1846. 
Philadelphia,  1846. 

The  Anti-Slavery  Alphabet.     Philadelphia,  1847. 

Great  Speech  of  the  Hon.  G.  M.  Dallas,  upon  the  leading  Topics  of 
the  Day,  delivered  at  Pittsburgh,  Pa.,  zvith  a  brief  biographical 
Sketch,  etc.     Philadelphia,  1847. 

Constitution  and  By-Laws  of  the  Washington  Female  Native  Ameri- 
can Association  of  Southwark,  instituted  November,  1841  Phila- 
delphia, 1848. 

Great  Whig  Demonstration  in  favour  of  the  Nomination  of  Gen.  Taylor 
to  the  Presidency.  The  Buena  I'ista  pcstii-al,  at  Philadelphia, 
February  22^  1848.     (Washington,  1848.) 

Rough  and  Ready  Rhymes:  a  Democratic  Epic  Poem  in  Cantos;  by  T. 
Thistle.     Philadelphia,  1848. 

To  the  People  of  Pennsylvania..  .Every  Citizen,  who  cherishes  and 
values  the  Prosperity  and  Permanency  of  his  Country  and  her 
Institutions,  as  he  values  his  ozvn  and  his  Children's  Prosperity 
and  Happiness,  Read!  Pause!!  Reflect! ! I     (Philadelphia,  1848.) 

DeWitt,  W.  R.,  A  Discourse  on  the  Life  and  Character  of  Francis  R. 
Shunk,  late  Governor  of  Pennsylvania^  delivered  August  g,  1848. 
Harrisburg,  1848. 

Native  American  Hall  Co.  of  Cedar  Ward:  Constitution  and  By-Laws, 
1845.     Philadelphia,  1849. 


503]  BIBLIOGRAPHY  257 

Leisler,  Jacob,  Letters  to  the  People  of  Pennsylvania  on  the  Political 
Prittciples  of  the  Free  Soil  Party.     Philadelphia,,  1850. 

Bribery  and  Corruption!.'  Report  of  the  Proceedings  of  the  IVilliatHS- 
port  Convention  embracing  the  spirited  Debates,  given  graphically; 
Testimony  in  relation  to  the  Attempt  to  bribe  two  of  the  Delegates; 
and  other  interesting  Particulars  of  the  Occasion.  Philadelphia, 
1850. 

Proceedings  of  the  great  Union  Meeting  held  in  the  large  Saloon  of 
the  Chinese  Museum,  Philadelphia,  on  the  21st  of  November,  1830, 
under  a  Call  signed  by  upzi-ards  of  five  thousand  Citizens,  whose 
names  are  appended  to  the  Proceedings.     Philadelphia,  1850. 

Lewis.  \Vm.  D.,  ^l  brief  Account  of  the  Efforts  of  Senator  Cooper,  of 
Pennsylvania,  and  Charles  Gibbons,  and  their  Associates,  to  pre- 
vent the  Confirmation  of  William  D.  Lewis,  Collector  of  the  Cus- 
toms for  the  District  of  Philadelphia,  as  also  of  their  Attempts. 
sin.ce  his  Confirmation,  to  procure  his  Removal  from  Office.  Phila- 
delphia, 1851. 

Reply  of  Charles  Gibbons  to  the  Pamphlet  of  Ji'illiam  D.  Lezvis. 
Philadelphia,  1851. 

In  the  Matter  of  the  Charges  against  the  Collector  and  Sun-eyor  of 
the  Port  of  Philadelphia:  Reply  of  Charles  Gibbons  to  the  Argu- 
ment of  Daznd  Paul  Brown.     (Philadelphia,  1851.) 

Preliminary  Reply  of  Mr.  Lez'in  to  Senator  Cooper.  Broad-side. 
(Philadelphia,  1851.) 

General  Pierce  and  the  Catholics.     Philadelphia.  1852. 

Five  Years  Abstract  of  Transactions  of  the  Pennsylvania  Society 
for  Promoting  the  Abolition  of  Slavery,  the  Relief  of  Free 
.\'egroes  unlawfully  held  in  Bondage,  and  for  improzing  the  Con- 
dition of  the  African  Race.     Philadelphia,  1853. 

Will  the  Interests  of  Pennsylz'ania  be  advanced,  or  the  Rez'enue  in- 
creased, by  continuing  the  Tonnage  Ta.r  upon  the  Pennsylvania 
Railroad?  Is  a  Ta.v  upon  the  through  Tonnage  constitutional^ 
(Philadelphia,  1854.) 

Emigration,  Emigrants,  and  Know-Nothings;  by  a  Foreigner.  Phila- 
delphia, 1834. 

A  few  Words  to  the  thinking  and  judicious  Voters  of  Pe>tnsy!--ania. 
(Philadelphia.  1R54.) 

The  Modern  Battle  of  the  Kegs;  by  the  Poet  Laureate  of  the  Knozv- 
Nothings.     Phihidelphia.    1854. 

Encroachn:cnts  of  the  Rowan  Catholic  Hierarchy  on  the  ciz-il  and  re- 
ligious Liberties  of  People  in  Europe,  Asia,  Africa,  and  .4merica. 
Philad<'lphia.  (1854)- 

To  the  Democratic  Members  of  the  Legislature  of  Pennsyh\inia. 
(Philadelphia,  1854.) 


258  BIBLIOGRAPHY  [304 

The  Ritual  of  the  Order  of  Know-N othings  zvith  the  Initiation  Oaths 
taken  by  Jatnes  Pollock,  now  Governor  of  Pennsylvania.  (Phila- 
delphia, 1855.) 

Laurens,  J.  Wayne,  The  Crisis:  or  the  Enemies  of  America  unmasked. 
Philadelphia,  1855. 

Denig,  John,  The  Know  Nothing  Manual,  or,  Book  for  America  no.  i, 
in  whi^li  the  Native  American  Platform  and  Principles  as  adopted 

by  the  Know  Nothings  are  set  forth  and  defended together 

with  Dissertations  on  Romanism.     Harrisburg,  1855. 

Forney,  John  Wien,  Address  on  religions  Intolerance  and  political 
Proscription,  delivered  at  Lancaster,  Pa.,  on  the  Evening  of  the 
24th  of  September.     Washington,  1855. 

Narrative  of  the  Pacts  in  the  Case  of  Passmore  Williamson.  Phila- 
delphia, 1855. 

The  great  Fraud  by  zvhich  Pennsylvania  is  sought  to  be  abolitionizcd 
in  October  and  November.  The  Abolition  State  Ticket  and  the 
Abolition  Electoral  Fillmore  Ticket.     (Philadelphia,  1856.) 

Randall,  Josiah,  Speech  of  Josiah  Randall,  Esq.,  of  Philadelphia,  de- 
livered at  Chambersburg,  August  6,  1856,  at  the  request  of  the 
Democratic  State  Convention,  of  Pennsylvania.  In  the  Democratic 
Hand-Book  for  1856. 

An  Appeal  for  the  Union  by  a  Philadelphia  Whig.    (Philadelphia,  1856.) 

Mr.  Buchanan's  Low  Wage  Doctrine.     Philadelphia,   (1856). 

.Address  of  the  State  Central  Democratic  Committee  to  the  People 
of   Pennsylvania.     (Philadelphia,    1856.) 

Proceedings  of  the  Pennsylvania  Democratic  State  Convention  held 
at  Harrisburg,  March  4,  1856.     Philadelphia,   1856. 

Reed,  William  B.,  Appeal  to  P ennsylva^iia.  A  Speech  of  Wm.  B. 
Reed  delivered  at  a  meeting  of  Friends  of  Buchanan  and  Breck- 
enridge  at  Somerset,  Pa.,  September  24,  1856.  (Philadelphia, 
1856.) 

History  of  the  Rise,  Progress  and  Downfall  of  Know-N othingisnt 
in  Lancaster  Co.;  by  two  e.vpelled  Members.     Lancaster,   1856. 

Case  of  Passmore  Williamson.     Philadelphia,  1856. 

Works  by  Contemporaries 

Forney,  John  W.,  Anecdotes  of  Public  Men.  2  vols.  New  York,  1873. 
Sketches  originally  published  in  the  newspapers;  contains  charac- 
terizations of  some  value. 

Harris,  Alexander,  A  Review  of  the  Political  Conflict  in  America, 
from  the  Commencement  of  the  Anti-Slavery  Agitation  to  the 
Close  of  Southern  Reconstruction ;  comprising  also  a  Resume 
of  the  Career  of  Thaddcus  Stevens:  being  a  Survey  of  the  Struggle 
of   Parties,   which   destroyed    the   Republic   and   virtually   monar- 


505]  BIBLIOGRAPHY  259 

chizcd  its  Government.  New  York,  1876.  Material  on  the  early 
career  of  Stevens  is  of  value. 

Hildreth,  Richard,  Atrocious  Judges.  New  York,  1856.  The  appendix 
contains  the  proceedings  in  the  case  of  Passmore  Williamson. 

Lee,  John  Hancock,  The  Origin  and  Progress  of  tlie  American  Party 
in  Politics.  Philadelphia,  1855.  A  publication  intended  to  make 
converts  for  the  cause. 

McClure,  A.  K.,  Old  Time  Notes  of  Pennsylvania.  2  vols.  Philadelphia, 
1905.  Of  considerable  value  for  the  closing  years  of  the  Whig 
party. 

McClure,  A.  K.,  Our  Presidents  and  How  IVc  Make  Them.  New 
York,  igo2.     Popular  presentation  based  on  recollection. 

McClure,  A.  K.,  Recollections  of  Half  a  Century.  Salem,  1902.  Dis- 
connected sketches,  a  few  of  which  are  of  value  for  this  study. 

Parke,  John  E.,  Recollections  of  Seventy  Years  and  Historical  Glean- 
ings of  Allegheny,  Pennsylvania.  Boston,  1886.  Some  material 
on  social  conditions. 

Sargent,  Nathan,  Public  }fen  and  Events  from  the  Commencement 
of  Mr.  Monroe's  Administration,  in  1S17,  to  the  Close  of  Mr. 
Fillmore's  Administration,  in  1S53.  2  vols.  Philadelphia.  1875. 
The  recollections  of  a  veteran  Whig  correspondent  at  Washing- 
ton; of  more  value  for  national  than  for  state  politics. 

Smedley,  R.  C,  History  of  the  Underground  Railroad  in  Chester  and 
the  Neighboring  Counties  of  Pennsylvania.  Lancaster,  1883.  The 
activities  of  the  abolitionists  in  southeastern  Pennsylvania  are 
described;  an  account  of  the  Christiana  riot  by  a  man  of  the 
vicinity. 

Biographies 

Armor,  William  C,  Lives  of  the  Governors  of  Pennsylvania  zi'ith  the 
incidental  History  of  the  State,  from  160Q  to  1873.  Philadelphia. 
1872.     Brief  sketches  of  value. 

Binney,  Charles  Chauncey,  The  Life  of  Horace  Binney  with  Selections 
from  his  Letters.  Philadelphia,  1903.  Biography  of  a  lawyer  oc- 
casionally politically  active. 

Callender,  E.  B.,  Thaddeus  Stevens:  Commoner.  Boston,  1882.  The 
pioneer  biography ;  contains  some  source  quotations  on  his  early 
political  career. 

Clayton,  Mary  Black,  Reminiscences  of  Jeremiah  Sullivan  Black.  St. 
Louis,  1887.     Little  of  value  for  this  period. 

Curtis,  George  Ticknor,  Life  of  James  Buchanan.  2  vols.  New  York. 
1883.  .\x\  effort  to  depict  Buchanan  as  a  statesman,  with  little 
attention  to  him  as  a  politician. 

DuBois,    James    T,    and    Mathews,    Gertrude    S..    Galusha    ./.    Grou.-, 


26o  BIBLIOGRAPHY  [506 

Father  of  the  Homestead  Law.  Boston,  1917.  Valuable  for  liglit 
thrown  on  political  conditions  in  tlie  northern  tier  of  counties. 

Egle,  William  H.,  Andrew  Gregg  Curiin,  his  Life  and  Services.  Phila- 
delphia, 1895.    Concerned  with  later  career  of  subject. 

Haxris,  Alex.,  A  Biographical  History  of  Lancaster  County:  being  a 
History  of  early  Settlers  and  eminent  Men  of  the  County;  and 
also  much  other  unpublished  historical  Information^  chiefly  of  a 
local  Character.  Lancaster,  1872.  Contains  an  article  on  Stevens* 
by  one  of  his  law  students. 

Jones,  Charles  Henry,  The  Life  and  Public  Services  of  J.  Gla^ucey 
Jones.  2  vols.  Philadelphia,  1910.  The  career  of  an  ardent 
Buchanan  supporter  of  Berks  county,  the  stronghold  of  the  Dem- 
ocratic party. 

Konkle,  Burton  Alva,  The  Life  of  Chief  Justice  Ellis  Lewis,  1798-1871, 
of  the  First  Elective  Supreme  Court  of  Pennsyh^ania,  Phila- 
delphia, 1907.     Throws  no  light  on  the  political  situation. 

Konkle,  Burton  Alva,  Life  and  Speeches  of  Thomas  JVilUams,  Orator, 
Statesman  and  Jurist,  1806-1872.  2  vols.  Philadelphia,  1905. 
Contains  a  little  material  of  value  for  this  study. 

Meigs.  William  M.,  The  Life  of  Charles  Jared  Ingersoll.  Philadelphia, 
1897.     The  biography  of  a  leading  Democrat  of  Philadelphia. 

McCall,  Samuel  W.,  Thaddeus  Stevens.  Boston,  1899.  Weak  on  the 
early  career  of  Stevens. 

Savidge,  Eugene  Coleman,  Life  of  Benjamin  Harris  Brewster  unth  Dis- 
courses and  Addresses.  Philadelphia,  1891.  Throws  some  light 
on  the  activities  of  tlie  Democrats  during  this  period. 

Simpson,  Kenry,  Tlic  IJves  of  Eminent  Philadclphians,  now  deceased, 
collected  from  original  and  authentic  Sources.  Philadelphia,  1859. 
Cood  brief  sketches. 

Woodburn,  James  Albert,  Tl'c  Life  of  Thaddeus  Std'ens,  .4  Study  in 
American  Political  History,  especially  in  the  Period  of  the  Ciinl 
War  and  Reconstruction.  Indianapolis,  1913.  The  best  biography 
of  Stevens,  but  containing  Uttle  on  the  early  period  of  his  life. 

Critical  Works  on  Pennsylvania 

Bartlett,  Marguerite  G.,  The  Chief  Phases  of  Pennsylvania  Politics  in 
the  Jacksonian  Period.  Allentown,  1919.  Contains  some  material 
on   the   constitutional    convention    of    1837- 1838. 

Bishop,  Alvard  Longley,  "  The  State  Works  of  Pennsylvania,"  in  the 
Transactions  of  the  Connecticut  Academy  of  Arts  and  Sciences, 
vol.  xiii,  November,  1907.     An  excellent  treatment  of  the  subject, 

Hensel,  W.  U.,  The  Christiana  Riot  and  the  Treason  Trials  of  1851. 
An  Historical  Sketch.  Lancaster,  191 1.  A  painstaking  study  of 
the  disturbances;  contains  some  of  the  source  material. 


507]  BIBLIOGRAPHY  261 

McCarthy,  Charles,  "The  Anti-Masonic  Party:  a  Stu<)y  of  Pohtical 
Anti-iVlasonry  in  the  United  States,  18(27-1840."  In  the  Annual  Re- 
port of  the  American  Historical  Association,  IQ02,  vol.  i,  pp.  365- 
574.  Washington.  1903.  A  masterly  study  of  one  branch  of  the 
future    Whig   party. 

Scharf,  J.  Thomas,  and  Wescott,  Thompson,  History  of  Philadelphia, 
J609-1SS4.  3  vols.  Philadelphia,  1S84.  Contains  much  valuable 
material  on  Philadelphia  politics. 

Swank,  James  M.,  Progressive  Pennsylvania.  A  Record  of  the  re- 
markable Industrial  Development  of  the  Keystone  State,  and  with 
some  Account  of  its  early  and  its  later  Transportation  Systems, 
its  early  Settlers,  and  its  prominent  Men.  Philadelphia,  1908.  Ex- 
cellent for  its  information  on  the  industries  of  the  state. 

Turner,  Edward  R.,  The  Negro  in  Pennsylvania.  Slavery — Senitude 
— Freedom.  1639-1861.  Washington,  191 1.  Throws  light  on  the 
status  of  the  negro. 

'Worthington,  A.  B.,  "  Historical  Sketch  of  the  Finances  of  Pennsyl- 
vania, in  the  Proceedings  of  the  American  Economic  Association, 
May,  1B87.  An  excellent  summary  of  the  finaoicial  legislation  of 
the  state. 

II,   BlBLIOGR.\PHV   OF  CiTF.D    MATERIAL,  OtHER   ThAN    THAT  OF 

Pennsylvania 
manuscripts 

Miscellaneous     Manuscript    Collection    of    the    New    York    Historical 

Society.     Contains  a  few  isolated  letters  of  value. 
Papers    of    John    M.    Qayton;    Library    of    Congress.     .\    number    of 

letters  of  importance. 
Papers    of   Thomas    Corwin;    Lib.    of    Cong.     Of   value   in   connection 

with  the  dispute  over  William  D.  Lewis  and  the  coUectorship  of 

the  port  of  Philadelphia. 
Papers   of   John   J.    Crittenden;    Lib.   of    Cong.     Contain    some    letters 

from  the  conservative  Whigs  of  the  state. 
Papers    of    Thomas   Ewing;    Lib.    of    Cong.     Of    little    value    for   this 

study. 
Papers   of  John    McLean;    Lib.   of   Cong.     Of  considerable   value    for 

the  anti-slavery  branch  of  the  Whig  party  in  the  state,  particul.irly 

from   the   western   portion. 
Papers  of  James  K.  Polk;  Lib.  of  Cong.     Of  value  for  his  canrpaign, 

but,    in    the  main,   the   material   can   be   better   obtained    from   the 

Buchanan    Papers. 
Papers   of    Daniel    Webster;    Lib.   of    Cong.     A    num1)cr   of    imi)ortant 

letters   from  .Anti-Nfasonic  Whigs. 


262  BIBLIOGRAPHY  [508 

COLLECTED   WORKS,  DIARIES   AND   CORRESPONDENCE 

Adams,  Charles  Francis  (editor),  Memoirs  of  John  Qu'mcy  Adams, 
cOjiiprising  portions  of  his  Diary  from  lygs  to  1848.  12  vols. 
Philadelphia,  1874-1877, 

"Correspondence  of  John  C.  Calhoun,"  Report  of  the  American  His- 
torical Association,  1899,  vol.  ii.     Washington,  1900. 

Colton,  Calvin  (editor),  The  Private  Correspondence  of  Henry  Clay. 
New  York,  1855. 

Diary  of  James  K.  Polk.  4  vols.     Chicago,  igio. 

Writings  and  Speeches  of  Daniel  Webster  (National  Edition).  18  vols. 
Boston,  1903. 

DOCUMENTS 

House  Journal,  26th  Congress,  ist  Session.     Washington,  1840. 

Maryland  Legislative  Documents,   1852.     Annapolis,    1852. 

Reports  of  tile  House  of  Representatives,  26th   Qmgress,   ist  Session. 

Washington,    1840. 
Richardson,  James  D.,  Compilation  of  the  Messages  and  Papers  of  the 

Presidents,   1789-1897.     Washington,    1896-1899. 
Senate  Executive  Journal,  vol.  viii.     Washington,  1887. 


NEWSPAPERS 

Niles'  Weekly  Register,  Baltimore;   i833-i8.:i9. 
Richmond  Enquirer,  Richmond ;   1847. 

ACCOUNTS   BY   CONTEMPORARIES 

Barnes,  Thurlow  Weed,  Memoirs  of  Thurlow  Weed.     Boston,  1884. 

(Elliott,  R.  S.,  Notes  taken  from  Sixty  Years.  St.  Louis,  1883. 
Greeley,  Horace,  Recollections  of  a  Busy  Life.     New  York,  1872. 

May,    Samuel,   Jr.,    The   Fugitive   Slave   Law  and   its    Victims.     New 

York,  1861. 

Weed,  Harriet  A.  (editor),  Autobiographv  of  Thurlow  Weed.     Boston, 

1883. 

Wise,  Henry  A.,  Seven  Decades  of  the  Union.  Philadelphia,  1876. 

BIOGRAPHIES 

Kennedy,    John    P.,    Memoirs   of   the    Life    of    William    Wirt.   2   vols. 

Philadelphia,  1849. 
Sargent,   Epes,  Life  and  Public  Services  of  Henry  Clay.     New  York, 

1848. 


-09]  BIBLIOGRAPHY  263 

Seward,  Frederick  \\'.,  JVilliam  II.  Sczvard:  an  Autobiography  fro»v 
iSoi  to  1834,  with  a  Memoir  of  his  Life,  and  Selections  from  his 
Letters.  3  vols.     New  York,  189 1. 

Tyler,  L.  G.,  Letters  and  Ti}nes  of  the  Tylers.  2  vols.     Riclimond,  1884. 

OTHER    WORKS 

Catterall,    Ralph    C.    II.,    The    Second    Bank    of    the    United    States. 

Chicago,    1903. 
Cole,  Arthur  Charles,  The  Whig  Party  in  the  South.     Washington,  1913. 
Fox,  Dixon  Ryan,   The  Decline  of  Aristocracy  in  the  Politics  of  A'cii' 

York.     New  York,   19 19. 
Landon,    Fred,    "  Negro    Migration    to    Canada,"    Journal    of    Negro 

History,   January,    1920. 
McMaster,  John  Bach,  History  of  the  People  of  the   United  States.  8 

vols.     New  York,   1883- 1912. 
Olbrich,   Emil,   The  Development   of  Sentiment  on  Negro  Suffrage  to 

i860.     Madison,    1912. 
Paullin.    C.    O.,   "The    National    Ticket  of    Broom    and    Coates,    1852." 

'The  American  Historical  Review,  vol.  xxv,  July,  1920. 
Rhodes,  James  Ford,  The  History  of  the  United  States.  8  vols.     New 

York,  1892- 19 19. 
Siebert,  Wilbur  H..  The  Underground  Railroad.     New  York,   1898. 
Stanwood,  Edward,  History  of  the  Presidency.  2  vols.     Bo-iton,  1912. 


INDEX 


Adams,  Charles  Francis,  151 

Albert!,  George,  185-6,  194 

Allegheny  county,   107,  154 

Allison,  J.  S.,  148,  152 

American  party :  see  Know  Noth- 
ings 

Anthracite  furnaces,  lOO 

Anti-Masonic  party,  organized,  ii ; 
refuse  to  cooperate  with  the 
National  Republicans.  12;  main- 
tain in-dependent  organization, 
16;  reject  fusion  with  the 
Whigs,  18;  state  convention, 
1835,  18-19;  nominate  Harrison 
for  presidency,  1836,  29;  oppose 
national  convention,  29;  policy 
in  constitutional  convention,  35- 
41  ;  control  coalition  with  the 
WTiigs,  20,  29,  41,  56,  237;  con- 
trol broken,  54-55;  Buckshot 
War,  49-55;  state  convention, 
1838,  57-5S;  activity  in  WTiig 
national  convention,  1839,  60 
61;  address  in  1840,  63-64;  re- 
sent sneers  of  Whigs,  68-69; 
attempts  to  revive  party,  1843, 
90-91  ;  persistency  of  party 
sentiment,  94,  and  note 

Bailey  and  Brothers.  231 
Baltimore     and     Ohio     Railroad, 

131-32 
Bank  Act  of  1836,  23-28;  of  1840, 
62-63;   of   1841,  69-72;  of   1842, 
76-77 
Bank  of  Pennsylvania,  76 
Bank  officials,  politics  of,  38 
Bank  of  the  United  States,  Jack- 
son's   opposition    to,     13 ;    ques- 
tion    of,     1834,     15-18;     obtains 
state    charter,    23-26;    suspends 
specie    pa>'Tncnt,    63,    69;    pro- 
\-ision     for     resuscitation.     70; 
liiiuidatinn,  72;  officials  accused 

511] 


of  bribery,  74;  Handy  Bribery 
Investigation,  77-79;  effect  oi 
failure  of,  on  Whig  party,  79 

Banks,  John,  69,  74 

Banks,   Nathaniel    P.,  227 

Barker,  Mayor  of  Pittsburgh, 
I76n.,  194 

Bedini,  Cardinal,  208-9 

Beecher,  Henry  Ward,  229 

Berks  county,   139,  245 

Best,    Valentine,    167 

Biddle,    Nicholas,   23,   70 

Bigler,  John,  180 

Bigler,  William,  Democratic  nomi- 
nee for  governor,  1851,  180; 
elected,  190-192;  signs  bill  re- 
pealing Act  of  March  3,  1847, 
193;  pardons  Alberti,  194; 
gubernatorial  candidate,  1854, 
210-11  ;   defeated,  215 

Binney,  Horace,  31  n.,  243 

Birney,  James  G.,   lii 

Black,  Jeremiah  S..  215 

Bonuses,  paid  by  the  banks,  25-2;^ 

Brackenridge,  H.  M.,  202 

Brewster,   Benjamin   H.,  225n. 

"  Borers ",  activity  of,  in  bar-k 
bribery,   77-79 

Brodhead,  Daniel  M.,  77-79 

Brodhead,  Richard,   177 

Broom,  Jacob,   198,  215 

Brown,  David  Paul,  3in. 

Buchanan,  James,  "  Ten  Cent 
Jimniie",  'X4 ;  withdraws  as 
presidential  candidate,  1843,  02; 
activity  in  campaign  of  1844. 
103;  recommended  for  secre- 
taryship of  state  by  the  electoral 
college,  1 14-5;  tariff  of  iS4f>, 
121;  a  former  Federalist,  I37n.; 
on  slavery  in  new  territory,  139; 
opposifiom  to  leadership  by.  143, 
194;  endorsed  for  prciidaicy, 
1852,    194;   not   nominated.    197; 

-^5 


266 


INDEX 


[512 


activity  in  campaign  of  1852, 
201 ;  nominated  for  presidency, 
1850,  2:^3;  attacks  on,  232-33; 
elected,  235 

Buckshot   War,  49-55,  61 

Bufiington,  Joseph,  2O0n. 

Burrowes,  Thomas  H.,  50,  51, 
84,  94,  95n.,  lojn. 

Butler,  W.  O.,   152 

Calhoun,  John   C,    I44n. 

California,  admission  of,   170-72 

Cameron,  Simon,  elected  to 
Senate,  115-17;  favors  Taylor, 
143;  suspicions  of  bribery,  116, 
17411.,  217;  opposes  Buchanan, 
143,  194;  senatorial  candidate, 
1855.  217 

Campbell,  John  H.,   iCKjn. 

Campbell,  James,  181,   191 

Canal  Commissioners,  made  elec- 
tive. 88 

Cantine,  John  J.  C,  73 

Cass,  Lewis,  139,  151.  153,  158,  197 

Catholics,  Roman,  Native  Ameri- 
can attacks  on,  104-6,  11 1; 
opposition  to,  in  Pittsburgh, 
17611.,  194,  203n.;  in  Phila- 
delphia, 181  ;  Know  Nothing! 
attacks,   208-9.    211-13 

Chandler,  Joseph  R.,  214 

Chester  county,  56 

Christiana    Riot,    187-190 

Clarion   county,    103 

Clay,  Henry,  and  the  National 
Republican  party,  12;  suggests 
conciliatory  attitude  towards 
Anti-Masons,  12 ;  uses  bank 
sentiment  for  political  agitation, 
13:  not  nominated,  1839,  5S-60; 
endorsed,  1843,  88;  questioncdi 
on  Masonry,  94;  on  annexation 
of  Texas,  97-98;  presidential 
candidate,  1844,  98;  reasons  for 
failure  to  carry  state,  1 12-14; 
Native  Americans  and,  I44n.; 
effect  of  Lexington  speech,  146- 
47;  favored  for  presidency, 
1 8 -8,  147;  as  a  compromiser 
and  its  effect,  236 

Cleaver,  K"mber,   163,   190 

Clover,   Scth,    180 

Coates,    Reynell,    108 

Cobb,   Howell,   168 

Cochran,  Thomas  E.,  224 


Compromises  of    1850,   195-96 

Conrad,   Robert  T.,  212 

Constitution  of  183S,  ratification! 
of,  41 

Constitutional  Convention  of  1837- 
3S,  elections  for,  33-34;  con- 
stituency   of,    34-36;    work    of, 

36-41 
"  Convention  Democrats,"  20,  237- 

Convention  of  iron  masters,  1849, 
167-68 

Cooper,  Peter,  165 

Cooper,  James,  chosen  to  Senate, 
160 ;  strives  to  control  Whig 
state  party,  161-62;  opposes  the 
governor,  176;  favors  adoption 
of  "  principles "  by  congres- 
sional caucus,  195 

Cope,  Thomas  P.,  243 

Coryell,  Lewis  S.,  32n. 

Corwin,  Thomas,   178 

Coulter,  Richard,  179,  191 

Craig,  Neville  B.,  17 

Cunningham,  Thomas  S.,  22,  51 

Curtin,  A.  G.,  211 

Daily  Coniiiicrcial  Journal,  at- 
tacks slavery,  127;  favors  for- 
mation of  a  "  Northern  Whig 
Party,"  195 ;  blames  South  for 
•defeat  of   Scott,  202 

iDallas,  George  M.,  on  the  powers 
of  the  constitutional  convention, 
33;  unorthodox  views  on  the 
bank,  104 ;  on  Cameron's  elec- 
tion, 117;  vote  on  the  Tariff 
Rill  of  1846,  124-26;  favors 
*"  non-intervention  "  policy  on 
slavery,    139 

Darsie,   George,  223n. 

Davis,  Jefferson,  171 

Dayton,  William  L.,  227 

.Dearborn,  H.  A.  S.,  145 

Democratic  party,  factional  fight, 
1835,  20-22;  policy  in  the  con- 
stitutional convention,  35-41 ; 
effect  of  Buckshot  War  on,  54- 
55 :  disrupted  by  the  Porters, 
86-88;  attack  the  Kno-w  Noth- 
ings, 213-214;  see:  Elections 

Denny,    PLirmar,    29 

Dickty,   John,  26,  27 

Donclson,   A.  J..  227,  228 

'Douglas,  Stephen  A.,  197 


513] 


INDEX 


267 


Dungan,  Joshua,   174 
Dunlap  and    Brothers,  231 

E^ton  and  Water  Gap  Railroad, 
205n. 

"  Kdie  "   delegates.  226 

Elder.    William,    130 

Election  of  1834.  17;  of  1835,  22; 
of  1836.  31-34;  of  1837,  43;  of 
1838.  49-55;  of  1839,  61;  of 
1840,  55-66;  of  1841,  74-75;  of 
1842.  84-85 ;  of  1843,  go-91  ;  of 
1844.  109- 1 14;  of  1845,  119-20; 
of  1846.  129-33;  of  1847,  141-4^; 
of  1848,  156-59;  of  1849,  163- 
67;  of  1850,  177;  of  1851,  190- 
92;  of  1852,  200-02;  of  1853, 
206-07;  of  1854,  214-16;  of  1855. 
223;  of  1856,  235 

EUmaker,  Amos.  12 

Fcnn,   Theophilus,  221 

Fillmore,    Millard,    148,    197,   227- 

2S,  235 
Forney,  John  W.,  1140..  126,  233 
Forward,  Walter,  ;isn.,  84 
Foster,  William  B.,  129 
The  Forum,    104 
Frazer,  Reah,  143 
Free  Soil  Democracy,   151,  210 
Frelinghuysen,  Theodore.  98,  in 
Fremont.  John  C.  227,  235 
Fugitive    Slave    Law,    enactment, 

179;    enforcement    in    the   state, 

182-87 
Fuller,   Henry  M..   163,   165 

Gamble.  John  A.,  162 
Germans,  40,  48,  208-09.  245 
Gettysburg  Railroad.   26 
Ciettysburg  Star  and   Banner,  68 
Gibson.     Adams,      fugitive     slave 

case,    185-8.) 
Gibson.  I.  B.,  204 
Gilpin,  Henry  D.,  I37n. 
Girard    IJank,   14,  27 
Gorsuch.  Kdward,  187 
(.-raham,  William  A.,  197 
Granger,   I*'rancis.  29 
Greeley,  Horace,  204 
(j'rier,  Robert  C.,   183.   184 
Grow,  G^lu^ha  :\.,  175 
Grund.  F.  J..  171 

Hale.  John  P.,  198 


Hallowell.  Morris  L..  and  Co., 
230 

Hampton.    Moses,    154,    I73n. 

I  landy,  George,  77 

Harrison,  William  H.,  state  fav- 
orite for  the  presidency,  1836, 
28-29;  defeated,  1S36,  34;  state 
convention  of  supporters.  1839. 
59;  nominated  by  national  Anti- 
Masonic  convention,  1838.  57- 
58;  nominated  by  na.ional 
Whig  convention,  1S39.  60; 
elected,  6s-t6;  formation  o£ 
cabinet,  66-68;  persistence  of 
sentiment    for,    94 

Hcmpfield    Railroad,   205n. 

Hicster,   Isaac,  20on.,  225n. 

Hiester,  Joseph.  2ln. 

Hoffman.  Jacob,   104 

Hopkins,  William.  51,  194 

"  Hunseckcr  "   delegates,    226 

H  utter.  E.  W.  73-74,  ii4n. 

Ingersoll.   Charles  J..  34n.,  49.   53- 

84.   q8,    115 
Ingersoll,  Joseph  R.,  145 
Ingraliam.    Commissioner    E.    D., 

185-85 
Interest    on    state    debt,    paid    in 

scrip,   75-76,  80 
Inte  nal    improvements,    and    the 

Bank  of  the   Cniteti   States,  25; 

sale  recf)mmended,  OJ,  75;  value 

of,  86n. :  sale  of,  204n. 
Irish,  105-06,  208 
Iron,    tax    suggested    on    ore,    85; 

activity    in    iron   business,    lO^ ; 

effect   of  tariff  of   1846  on,   130. 

140,   165 
Irvin,  James,   141 

Jackson,  Andrew.  11,  13 

Johnson,  R.  M..  92 

Johnston,  William  F.,  elected  by 
Whigs  to  state  senate.  I42n. ; 
acting  governor,  140;  Whig  can- 
didate for  the  governorship, 
1848.  149-50;  campaign,  152; 
election,  156-57;  message  of 
1850,  I29n. ;  renomin.itcd,  1S51, 
170;  on  the  Christiana  Riot. 
188-89:  defeated.  IOOQ2:  vetoes 
bill  repealing  .'\ct  of  March  3, 
1847.  i';3;  in  National  Whig 
convention.    1X52.    196-97;    bolts 


268  INDEX 

national  American  council,  1855, 
218;  in  state  American  conven- 
tion, 1855,  219;  leader  of  free- 
soil  "  \orlh  Americans,"  226; 
nominated  for  vice-presidency, 
227;  withdraws,  228 

Jones,  Joel,    164 

Julian,  George  W.,  198 


[514 


letter  on 
former 
fugitive 


Kane,  John  K.,  Polk's 
tariff  to,  102-03; 
P'ederalist,  I37n. ;  on 
slave  cases,  183-85;  charges 
grand  jury  on  treason,  189-90; 
and  Passmore  Williamson,  220- 
21 

Kansas-Nebraska  Act,  209,  210, 
214 

Karns,  Samuel  D.,  119,  12011. 

Kellcy,   William  D.,   i2Sn.,   I76n. 

Kensington  Riot,  105-06 

Kent,  Chancellor  James,  99n. 

Kidnaping  Act  of  March  3,  1847, 
passed,  134-35 ;  house  repeals, 
i6c;;  Democrats  resolve  for  its 
repeal,  181 ;  in  gubernatorial 
campaign,  1851,  181-82;  repealed, 
^183 

King.  William  R.,  197 

Know  Nothings,  formation  of, 
208-00;  first  elections,  212;  vote 
in  i8si,  215-16;  national  or- 
ganizati  )T  effected,  217-18;  dis- 
rupted, 217-20;  in  the  election, 
of  1856,  234-35;  effect  of  party 
on  the   Whigs,  238-39 

Kremer   George,    I44n. 

LamojTie,  F.  J.,  i4:2n. 
Lancaster  county,  107,  154 
Lancaster  city,  203,  212 
Lancaster   Intelligencer,  92 
I--and-Distribution  Act,  81 
Laporte,  Bartholomew,  224 
Lawrence,  Joseph,  17,  32n. 
Lehman,  Dr.  George  F.,   ii4n. 
I^scure,  J.   M.  G.,   Ii4n. 
Levin,  Lewis  C.,  I55n;.,  163,  176 
Lewis,   Ellis,   137,  I44n. 
Lewis,  William  D.,  162,  177,  203 
LilxTty  party,   107,  239 
Littcll.  John  S.,   I55n. 
Longstreth,  Morris,   141,  150,  156- 
57 


Lowe,   E.  L.,  Governor  of   Mary- 
land,   186 
Lowry,  M.  B.,  79 

McCandless,  Wilson,  103,  11 1,  167 

McClure,  .Mex.  K.,  221 

McKean,    Samuel,  20 

McLean,  John,  89,   I44n. 

Markle,  Joseph,  95,  96,  109 

Meredith,  William.  35n.,  161 

Mexican  War,  attitude  of  Whigs 
towards,  136-37 

Middleswarth,  Ner,  17,  22,  147, 
155-56 

Miners'  Journal,  85,  1 18 

Missouri  Compromise,  218,  222, 
226 

Mitche!,  J.  S.,  186 

Morning  Ariel,  120 

Morehcad,  J.  M.,  152 

Morris  and  Son,  231 

Morrison,  W.  T.,  174 

Morton,  Robert  H.,  119,  130 

Mott,  Henry  S.,  214,  215 

Muhlenberg,  Frederick  A.,  21  n. 

Muhlenberg,  Henry  A.,  leader  ofi 
Democratic  faction,  1835,  20- 
23;  gubernatorial  candidate,  22; 
defeated,  22;  ambassador  to 
Austria,  48;  gubernatorial  can- 
didate,   1844,  92 ;    death,  92 

Muhlenberg,  Henry  A.  (Jr.),  143, 
144 

Nashville  Convention,   171 

National  Republicans,  12,  16,  237 

Native  -Ajnericans,  organized,  104- 
08;  local  victories.  109;  state 
organization,  1 18-19;  endorse 
Taylor,  144-45;  fuse  with 
Whigs,  148-49;  remnant  of, 
1852,  198;  effect  on  Whig  party, 
238 

National  Gazette,  14,  40 

Naylor,  Charles,  53 

Negro    migration,    183 

Nicholson,    Thomas,    223 

Norristozvn  Register,  143 

North  American,  on  tonnage  tax, 
85 ;  on  annexation  of  Texas, 
96,  118;  on  Tyler  convention. 
98;  proposes  impeachment  of 
Tyler,  99;  on  the  tariff,  loi, 
121,  123;  on  slave  labor,  127; 
on   Wilmot   Prbviso.    I'^S 


515] 


INDEX 


269 


"  North   Americans," 
Ogle,    Charles,    179 
Oregon  question,   129 


227 


Packer,  William  F.,   160 

Panic  of  1837,  43 

Parke.  Samuel,  I07n. 

Parker,  Theodore,  229 

Patterson,  Major-General  .Robert, 
52 

Patton,  Joseph  H.,  141 

Pennsylvania  Inquirer.  153 

Pennsylvania  Railroad,  131,  132, 
204n.,  205 

Pennsylvania   Telegraph,  246 

Pntnsylvanian.  87,   126,  251 

Pennypacker.  E.  F..  23 

Penrose,  Qiarles  B.,  favors  state 
charter  for  Bank  of  the  United 
States,  26:  joins  Whigs,  27; 
during  Buckshot  War,  51-55;  ini 
national  Whig  convention,  59- 
61 

Phelps,   Davison,   224 

Philadelphia,  bank  sentiment,  13 ; 
Native  American  movement, 
104-07.  133,  144;  effect  of  tariff 
of  i8i6.  130:  Liberty  party  in, 
132;  Buena  Vista  Festival,  146; 
"Rough  and  Ready  Club,"  148; 
Whigs  and  Native  Americans 
cooperate,  144.  148,  155;  effect 
of  consolidation,  205 ;  anti- 
Catholic  sentiment,  104-07,  181, 
lOi,  208;  Know  Nothing  move- 
ment, 211.  214;  enforcement  of 
Fugitive  Slave  Law,  1S2-86,  220- 
21  ;   trade  with  the  South,  230- 

Pierce,  Frajiklin,  197,  198,  201 

Pike  county,  113 

Pittsbureh,  railroad  question  in, 
131;  Dallas  at,  139;  anti-Cath- 
olic sentiment,  I76n..  194;  elects 
Democratic  mayor,  194;  Whigs 
regain,  203 

Polk,  James  K.,  98,  102-03,  112, 
114,  121 

Pollock,  James.  Whig  guberna- 
torial candidate,  1854,  209; 
Free  Soil  Democrats  endorse, 
210;  Temperance  men  endorse, 
211;  Know  Nothings  endorse, 
213;  elected,  215 

Porter,     David     R.,     Democratic 


gubernatorial     candidate,     1S38, 
48;  attacks  on  his  morality,  4S ; 
elected,    51;    on   the   banks,   62; 
extensive    use   of   the   veto,    72- 
7Z ;   accused   of  accepting  bribe, 
74;    reelected,   74,    implicated    in 
Handy       Investigation,       77-79; 
disrupts    Democratic   party,   85- 
88;  on  the  tariff,  loi ;  in  tariff 
convention,    1846,     120;     favors 
Taylor,   143 
Porter,  James  M.,  53,  87,  143,  14S 
Power,  James  M.,   129 
Price,  J.  F..  185,  186 
Prigg  v.  Pennsylvania,  134 
Publie  Ledger,  on  election  of  1844. 
108;  on  senatorial  election.  1845. 
115;    on    political    campaigning, 
152;    on    Nashville    Convention, 
171 ;  on  election  of  1852,  199 

Randall,  Josiah.  66n..   176,  225n. 

Raynor.    Kenneth.   228n. 

Read,  John  M.,  I37n.,  I44n.,  171 

Reed.  William  B.,  and  state  charter 
for  the  bank,  24;  attorney- 
general,  45;  on  Harrison  senti- 
ment, 94;  joins  Democrats,  225n. 

Reigart,  E.  C.  lOTn.,  I42n. 

"Relief  notes,"  69-72 

I^'publican  party,  formed  in  state, 
219-20;  perfects  organization, 
227-28;  "Nigger  Worshippers," 
229;  attacks  on  Cuchanan,  232 

Riddle,  R.  M.,  121.  202.  203n. 

Ritner.  Joseph,  gubcrnatori.il  can- 
didate, 185;,  18;  on  the  bank, 
10;  elected,  22;  vetoes  bank 
charter  bills,  27;  opposes 
Stevens,  30n. ;  vetoes  improve- 
ment bill,  42;  on  the  panic  of 
1837,  43;  renominated,  4.^ ;  re- 
conciled to  Stevens,  44-45; 
Buckshot  War,  50-55;  defeated 
for  governor,  51;  Senate  re- 
jects him  for  office,  75n.;  sug- 
gested for  Senate.  84 

Roberts,  Jonathan,  84 

Rosebury,  R.  I2n. 

Rush,  Richard,   14,  I37n. 

Salisbury,   Seth,    I44n. 
Siirgent,    Nathrm,    3in. 
Schaeffer.  Kinaiuicl,   154 
Schulzc,  John  A.  2in..  40.  48 


270 


INDEX 


Scott,  Winfield,  favored  for  pre- 
sidency, i^,  146,  179,  194;  nomi- 
nated, 197;  campaign,  201-02 

Seabright,  William,  194 

Sergeant,  John,  president  of  con- 
stitutional convention,  35 ;  op- 
poses adoption  of  constitution, 
39;  suggested  for  cabinet,  67; 
leading  Whig,  243 

Shunk,  Francis,  Democratic  nomi- 
nee for  governor,  1844,  92-93; 
elected,  109;  renominated,  1847, 
141 ;    resignation,    149 

"Silver    Greys,"   200n.,   2*14,   225n. 

Slavery  question,  see :  Christiana 
Riot;  Compromises  of  1850; 
Fugitive  Slave  Law ;  Kidnap- 
ing Act ;  Kansas-Nebraska  Act ; 
Missouri  Compromise;  Texas; 
Wilmot  Proviso 

Smith,    Peter   Sken,    i44n. 

Solms,  J.,  yj 

Southwark  Riot,  106 

Specie     payment,     suspended,     47, 

Spirit  of  the  Times,  109,  119 

State-owned  stock,  value  of,  86n. 

Stevens.  Thaddeus,  in  Harrisburg 
convention,  1834,  17;  and  state 
charter  for  Bank  of  the  United 
States,  23-24;  alleged  hostility 
to  Harrison,  34,  41 ;  leads  Anti- 
Masonic  faction,  2Q-30;  opposes 
fusion  with  the  Whigs,  30-32, 
35,  44;  in  constitutional  conven- 
tion, 35 ;  opposes  adoption  of 
constitution,  39;  reconciled  to 
Ritner,  44-45;  P.uckshot  War, 
50-55 ;  suggested  for  Harrison's 
cabinet,  67;  lil>el  suit.  73; 
suggested  for  Senate,  84;  in 
political  quandary,  1844,  i07n. ; 
opposes  Clay,  1843,  go;  attempts 
to  revive  Anti-Masonry.  90;  con- 
gressional election.  1848,  154-55; 
control  in  Lancaster  county 
weakened,  i8on. ;  on  Fugitive 
Slave  I^aw,  i84n. ;  leader  of 
"  Wooly  Heads,''  2O0n.,  214;  an 
alleged  Know  Nothing,  213;  re- 
gains control  of  county,  225n. 

Stewart,  Andrew,  161 

Stewart,  Charles,  I44n. 

Stockton.  Rol>ert  F.,  2-28n. 

Strohm,  John,  179 


[516 

Sturgeon,  Daniel,  114 
Sub-Treasury  System,  opposed  by 

Whigs,  46,  108 
Sumner,  Captain  E.  V.,  52 
Sunbury  and  Erie  Railroad,  205 
Supreme    Court    Judjgcs    elective, 

Tariff,  Tyler  and  the,  82-83;  of 
184:2,  passed,  99 ;  views  on,  100- 
i;  failure  to  alter,  101-2;  issue 
in  1844,  102-3,  110-12;  as  party 
issue,  242;  attempts  to  prevent 
alteration,  120-125;  of  1846,  pas- 
sage, 121-26;  effects  of  passage, 
126-31  ;  Democrats  begin  to  de- 
fend, 140-41;  issue  in  1848,  153; 
agitation  for  revision,  1850,  172- 

74 
Taxation.  repealed,  1836,  25 ; 
amounts  raised  by,  28n.,  62n; 
restored,  62-63;  resorted  to  to 
deem  scrip.  80;  proposed  ton- 
nage tax,  86 
Taylor,  Zacharj',  effect  of  victor- 
ies, 143 ;  Democrats  consider  as 
presidential  possibility,  143-44; 
Native  Americans  and,  144-45 ', 
not  an  "  ultra-partisan  Whig," 
J45;  nominated  by  Whigs, 
148;  accepts  Charleston  Demo- 
cratic nomination,  152;  elected, 
158 
Temperance     question,     201,     205, 

2I1I,   216,   239 
Ten  Hour  Law,  155,  157,  166 
Texas,   treaty  of   aimexation,   96- 
99;    resolutions    of    annexation, 
1 17-18;    effect    on    state    Whigs, 
242 
Todd,  James,  3011. 
Treason  trials  of  1851,  189-190 
Tredegar  Iron  Works,  139-40 
Tyler,   John,   nominated    for   vice- 
presidency,    60;    opposes    Whig- 
policies,  73;  use  of  veto,  82,  83; 
no    support,    89;    candidate    for 
presidency,    1844.    98-99;    with- 
draws, 99;   impeachment  urged, 
99 

"  LTnion  "  candidates,  223.  224 
"  Union  "   electoral   ticket,  233-34 
United  States  Gazette.  38,  57,  97 


:I7] 


INDEX 


71 


Van  Buren,  Martin,  unpopular  irj 
state,  32 ;  carries  election,  1836, 
34;  defeated,  1840.  65-66;  en- 
dorsed as  presidential  candidate, 
1844,  92;  on  annexation  of 
Texas,  97-98;  Free  Soil  can- 
didate, 1848,  151 ;  vote  for  in 
1848.  158 

Van  Camp,  John  C,  lO/n. 

Vaux,   Richard,   I44n. 

Walker,  John  II.,  23 
Walker,  Robert  J.,  121 
Wallace.  Joseph,  i2n 
Walsh,   Henry,    ii4n. 
Washington,  George  C,  19S 
Webster,  Daniel,   57,  73,    198 
Wetherill,  John  Price,  3in.,  243 
Whig  party,   formation  of,   15-17; 
slow  growth,      17-19;      support 
Ritner,    19 ;    favor  state   charter 
for    the    Bank    of    the    United 
iStates,     23;     forced     to     favor 
Harrison,    1836,    31 ;    policy    in 
constitutional  convention,  35-41 ' 
endorse  Ritner,   1838,  44;  Buck- 
shot   W'ar,    49-55 ;     form    state 
organization,    56;    national    con- 
vention,    1839,    58,    60-61  ;     ad-' 
dress    of     1840,    63-64;     oppose 
tonnage    tax,    85 ;    conservatism) 
of,    88,    225n.,    243-46;    opposes 
annexation     of     Texas,     96-97; 
urges    impeachment    of    Taylor, 
99;    on    Mexican    War,    136-27; 


becomes  free-soil,  135;  "poli- 
tically bankrupt,"  206;  dissolu- 
tion, 221-35  ;  "  old  line  "  Whigs, 
229:  characteristics  of,  236-46; 
party  of  compromise,  236;  lacks 
homogeneity,  236-38;  effect  of 
Know  Nothings  on,  238-39;  a 
minority  party,  240;  no  clearly 
defined  policy,  241-43;  consti- 
tuency of.  243-44;  see:  Elections 

Williams,    Samuel,    iQOn. 

Williamson,  Passmore,  220-21 

Wiikins,    William,   33,  97,   137 

Wilmot,  David,  favors  tariff  of 
1846,  I23n.;  reelected  to  Con- 
gress, 132,  156;  leader  of  Free 
Soil  Democrats,  151  ;  withdraws 
from  candidacy,  1850,  175;  on, 
Whig  party,  I99n. ;  gubernator- 
ial candidate  of  Free  Soil  Dem- 
ocrats, 1854,  209;  withdraws, 
210;  forms  Republican  party, 
220 

Wilmot  Proviso,  introduced,  137; 
in  29th  Congress,  138;  Whigs 
and  Democrats  in  state  endorse, 
138;  Democrats  begin  to  oppose, 
139;  campaign  issue,  142,  153, 
it>4.   170.  242 

Wirt,  William,  12 

Wolf,  George,  20,  22,  48 

Woodward.  G.  W^,   115,  2O0n. 

"  Wooly  Heads,"  200n.,  214,  225n. 

Wright,  Hendrick  B.,  100,  I44n.. 
I56n.,    I59n. 


VITA 

The  author  was  bom  at  Marietta,  Peiinsylvania,  July 
21,  1887;  educated  in  the  public  schools  of  Philadelphia  and 
Lancaster,  Pennsylvania;  attended  Franklin  and  Marshall, 
1905-1907,  and  Muhlenberg  Colleges,  1907-1909;  A.  B., 
Muhlenberg,  1909;  taught  at  Great  Barrington,  Massa- 
chusetts, and  at  Allentown,  Pennsylvania,  1909-1914;  post- 
graduate student  at  Columbia  University,  1914-1917;  A. 
M.,  Columbia,  1915;  President's  University  Scholar.  1915- 
191 6;  University  Fellow  in  American  History,  1 916- 191 7; 
served  with  the  306th  Field  Artillery,  1917-1919;  attended 
the  Sorbonne,  March- June,  1919;  instructor  of  History 
and  Political  Science,  Carleton  College,  19 19-1920;  pro- 
fessor of  History,  Muhlenberg  College,  1920-. 


?"ii^     CIRCULATION  DEPARTMENT 
Jv^^"^      ^Oz  Main  Library 


LOAN  PERIOD  1 

HOME  USE 


ALL  BOOKS  MAY  BE  RECALLED  AFTER  7  DAYS 

1 -month  loons  may  be  renewed  by  colling  642-3405 

6^month  loons  moy  be  rechorged  by  brfngmg  books  to  Crculot,on 

Renewols  ond   rechorges  moy  be  mode  4  doys  prior  to  due  dote 


m.  '^"^    m  3 1   m^^'^^  STAMPED  RFi  niy 


I 


n^r.  '-"DIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA   RFPi^Fi  fv 

FORM  NO.  DD6,  40m,  3/78  BERKELEY,  CA  94720 


'P^S 


w 


"f  BmEuy  im^ 


A!, 


,„,,„ ill 


